Poland’s border guard has called on tourists to stop entering the area along the country’s border with Ukraine, warning them that it is an offence to do so. This summer season has seen a number of people issued with fines, including some who have entered the area to take photos with the border posts.
Piotr Zakielarz, spokesman for the border guard in the Subcarpathian province, told Polsat that it is forbidden to enter a 15-metre-wide area along the border, which is also the EU’s eastern frontier. Although there are signs reminding visitors of this, some ignore or fail to notice them.
“Beware, tourist,” reads a sign explaining the rules banning entry to the area along Poland’s border with Ukraine (image credit: kruczjak/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY 3.0)
While they may think they are safe because they do not see any officers around, there are cameras and other devices monitoring the border, noted Zakielarz. Border guards are then dispatched to the scene to deal with those observed violating the rules.
Those caught doing so can be fined up to 500 zloty (€112). That has happened a number of times in the Subcarpathian province already this summer. Indeed, the border guard says that it is now an almost daily occurrence, and has released footage of some of the offences.
This month has already seen a Polish family of three caught entering the border area, as well as tourists from Canada and the Czech Republic. One 21-year-old Polish tourist was also caught trying to take a photo of herself with a border post.
Problem naruszania pasa drogi granicznej w celu zrobienia sobie zdjęcia staje się niemal codziennością.https://t.co/KdLfjwb7k4
— PolsatNews.pl (@PolsatNewsPL) August 17, 2023
The problem is not a new one. In 2019, the border guard also issued a warning against entering the border area with Ukraine to take selfies. They noted that such behaviour was also happening on Poland’s frontiers with Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad as well.
However, the last two years have seen an increase in tensions along Poland’s border amid the war in Ukraine, a migration crisis engineered by Minsk as well as the arrival of Wagner forces in Belarus, and growing hostility from Russia.
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Main image credit: Ondřej Žváček/Wikimedia Commons (under Ondřej Žváček/Wikimedia Commons)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
