According to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland is considering applying for a special NATO meeting with two partner countries.

"We are discussing together with Latvia and especially with Lithuania whether one should not activate Article 4 of NATO," said Morawiecki on Sunday.

This provides for consultations between the contracting parties in the alliance.

For this it is sufficient "if, in the opinion of one of them, the integrity of the area, the political independence or the security of one of the parties is threatened".

Gerhard Gnauck

Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.

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Poland and Lithuania are the main victims of a crisis in which thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria and Iraq, are trying to enter illegally and at the same time the Belarusian security forces are attacking Polish and Lithuanian territory.

The Lithuanian Defense Council had already dealt with the issue on Friday evening.

The council "has agreed on criteria that would lead to a request for NATO support," reported the Lithuanian television broadcaster LRT.

An adviser to President Gintanas Nauseda said that “certain articles” of the treaty had been discussed in the council;

a request to NATO must be made by consensus among the country's political leaders.

He did not want to say what the criteria were, as they concerned “national security and tactical issues”.

The Foreign Ministers of Poland and Lithuania, Zbigniew Rau and Gabrielius Landsbergis, also held a meeting with the EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell over the weekend.

Further steps are to be discussed in the Council of EU Foreign Ministers on Monday.

Warning shots in the air

Polish politicians and representatives of the authorities expressed concern over the weekend about further developments, especially with a view to increasing provocations from the Belarusian side. At the weekend, Poland's border guards distributed recordings on Twitter that showed people from across the border fence at night using strong light sources to apparently try to dazzle the Polish border guards. According to the Polish representation, a laser cannon and a stroboscope were used.

At the same time, men from the Belarusian side tried to tear down the Polish border fence using a vehicle. A Belarusian fired warning shots in the air. Elsewhere, Polish soldiers patrolling along the eastern border were "pelted with stones by Belarusian officials," according to Polish accounts. There were no injuries. Once a group of around 50 migrants made their breakthrough to Poland.

Warsaw continues to be of particular concern at the Kuźnica / Brusgi border crossing. A column of hundreds of migrants had arrived there a week ago. Due to the strong presence of Polish security forces, people stopped before the crossing; Since then, a tent camp has been built along the border fence, as the Polish authorities have documented in western and, above all, American media from the eastern side of the fence. The border crossing itself is closed. At the weekend, Polish sources disseminated recordings of Belarusian delivery vans bringing food and "utensils" of unknown destination to the camp.

Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński wrote on Twitter on Sunday that rumors were spread among the migrants that “Poland has agreed that the migrants will travel to Germany in transit”. That is a lie: “The Polish border is and will remain well protected. I have given clear orders on this issue. ”Similar messages are distributed in the border area as SMS via the mobile phone operators and over loudspeakers:“ The Polish border will remain closed. You have been betrayed by Belarus. The Belarusian authorities are taking advantage of you. You can request a reimbursement of costs from Belarus and a return home. "

Apparently the Polish authorities fear an imminent, violent action against the border fortifications.

They also distributed videos of groups of Belarusian uniformed men who had just come to the border crossing, as well as a Belarusian television broadcast van.

A new column of migrants was also reported on Sunday.

"That looks like a major propaganda operation against Poland," tweeted a spokesman for the authorities.

On Saturday, the authorities reported that they had prevented 223 border crossings from Belarus.

Lithuania reported 114 prevented border crossings on Saturday;

also, "on the Belarusian side, two shots were heard in several places".