Belarus claims Polish soldier defects to Minsk

Tensions on the Poland-Belarus border have been high in recent months as thousands of migrants have tried to cross into EU-member Poland, in a crisis the West blames on the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Belarus' border committee claimed a Polish soldier was stopped by its guards and that he "asked for political asylum in the country".

It said the soldier -- who it named as Emil Czeczko -- was stopped Thursday near the Tushemlya border checkpoint.

Regime-controlled media then aired an interview with the soldier, who said he "deserted from the army through barbed wire".

"I took off my uniform and without my clothes, naked, ran towards Belarus," he said, according to a Russian translation.

He said it was "impossible to remain silent about what is happening on Polish territory".

National television in Belarus is tightly controlled by the state.

Earlier this year, it aired an interview with Belarusian anti-government activist Roman Protasevich after his plane was forced to land in Minsk. His family and campaigners said it was conducted under duress.

Warsaw confirmed one of its soldiers was missing.

Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the soldier in question "had serious problems with the law and had submitted his resignation from the army".

"He should never have been assigned to the border service," he said.

The defence ministry said in a statement that the soldier from the 11th Artillery Regiment "went missing while performing his official duties" at the border Thursday.

Since the summer, Poland has sent thousands of soldiers to the border to help prevent large numbers of migrants from crossing over from Belarus.

International rights organisations have criticised Poland for its treatment of migrants and creation of a controversial emergency zone along its border.

The West accuses Belarus of engineering the migrant influx by letting in thousands of people from the Middle East and encouraging them to cross into the European Union as a form of retaliation against EU sanctions.

Belarus -- ruled by Lukashenko since 1994 -- has rejected the accusations.