Russia sends paratroopers to Belarus for drills near troubled Polish border

FILE – Polish police and border guards stand near the barbed wire as migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno Grodno, Belarus, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Thousands of migrants flocked to Belarus’ border with Poland hoping to get to Western Europe, an influx that prompted Polish authorities to introduce a state of emergency and deploy thousands of troops and police. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP, File)

Russia has sent paratroopers to Belarus in a show of support for its ally amid tensions over an influx of migrants at the border with Poland.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that as part of joint war games Russian troops will parachute from Il-76 transport planes in Belarus’s Grodno region, which borders Poland.