“Most agents have been sent back to Belarus so it’s been difficult [for Russia] to gather intelligence in Europe,” she said.
“So that’s why they would want this porosity in the border… Because they would be operating under deep cover under the guise of migrants. Their agents could cross the border without having an official stamp in the passport.”
However, she suggested it could be less about Russian collusion and could be “just a matter of bad policing and corruption on the border” as Belarus continues to deny its involvement in Poland’s migrant crisis.
Human rights groups warn the situation is life-threatening for the groups stuck in the so-called “red zone” after being ping-ponged between the two rival countries.
One NGO activist Anna Alboth, previously told Euronews: “You can’t really be prepared to survive here.”
More than 48 bodies have been found in the Bialowieza Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the last two years.
