How blockade of Polish border is going & what Russian special services have to do with it

"At the border crossing in Hrebenne, in front of the Polish barrier, eight trucks are arranged in a "herringbone" pattern on both lanes of the road. They are positioned so that a car or bus can pass between them, but not a truck," Polish volunteer, head of the Pogoń Ruska association Rafał Roszkiewicz tells LIGA.net.

A tent has been set up near the strikers, where sausages are being fried. Nearby are dry closets. The police are chatting with the strikers and eating sausages – without any attempts to intervene.

Meanwhile, the line of trucks trying to get from Poland to Ukraine stretches for a little over 60 kilometers, all the way to the city of Zamość.

The strike by Polish carriers began on November 6, when they began blocking truck traffic around the clock at the Krakivets-Korczowa, Yahodyn-Dorohusk, and Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne checkpoints. Since then, hundreds of trucks have been stuck at the border. Two Ukrainian drivers died while waiting to cross the border.

On November 23, Polish strikers began a blockade of the fourth checkpoint, Medyka-Shehyni. According to official data, it will be blocked until November 26, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, tells LIGA.net. According to unofficial sources, the blockade may also become round-the-clock after February 26.

The organizers of the strike stated that they do not plan to prevent the import of humanitarian aid or critical cargo to Ukraine.

This protest may be related not only to the demands to change the situation in which Ukrainian truck drivers allegedly "take jobs from Poles." Russian special services may be involved, an intelligence source told LIGA.net.

We look into how the blockade of the Polish-Ukrainian border could be used by the Russians and how this version is perceived in Poland.

WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE RUSSIAN TRACE

The connection between the organizers of the rally and the Russians can be traced as part of the usual monitoring of events, Oleksandr Danyliuk, head of the Center for Defense Reforms and former advisor to the Minister of Defense, tells LIGA.net.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, his transport company Rafał Mekler Transport, together with other companies involved in the blockade (Kam-Trans, Jata-Trans, BOR-TOM, GLT POLSKA, KMS LOGISTYKA and PEO-TRANS), have repeatedly held rallies demanding the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions, analysts at the Center for Defense Reforms note.

The leader of the Confederation's list in this year's Polish Sejm elections, Ziemowit Przebitkowski, is a former leader of the All-Polish Youth movement. This organization has long-standing ties to the Russian Imperial Movement, which, among other things, recruited terrorists for the “DPR” and “LPR” terrorist organizations. And also with the paramilitary right-wing radical group Zadrużny Krąg - Dywizja Słowiańska (ZKDS), which cooperates with the neo-Nazi group Rusich, which is currently fighting in the Russian army.