splits the primeval Białowieża Forest between Belarusian and Polish national parks. Poles make up 3.9% of the population of Belarus according to the 1999 Belarus Census. There were 48,700 Belarusians in Poland according to the Polish census of 2002. Both minorities represent autochthonous populations of the region and are officially recognised by their host governments. Modern history 2020 Belarusian protests Amidst the 2020 Belarusian protests and Polish and Western calls for a renewed election, declaring the 2020 Belarusian presidential election invalid, Belarus deployed troops near Eastern Poland. After the forceful suppression of Belarusian protests, the main opposition challenger Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya fled the country to Poland, then to Lithuania. The Polish government has allotted a villa in the Praga-Południe district of Warsaw for 10 years to be used by the Belarusian opposition. It has also given refuge to opposition leader Valery Tsepkalo. Polish Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has promised to provide help to the opposition, which angered president Lukashenko and his allies. Poland is also hosting the Belarusian news channel Nexta, which has played a key part in organizing the protests. The Morawiecki government has promised to give 11 million euros to Belarusian civil society and independent media. Fallout of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 6 July 2022, scant months after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine caused the announcement by the Morawiecki government of a major increase in funding for the Polish armed forces, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus noticed that Poland "has already repeatedly displayed its imperial ambitions and, with a support from the [US] White House, positions itself as a leader, not only in Eastern, but in Central Europe as well." Major-General Ruslan Kosygin continued: "The territory of Poland, as well as the Baltic countries, is turning into a polygon, where the USA plans to unleash another bloody conflict in Europe against the Russian Federation and its allies." He was concerned about "attempts by individual Polish politicians to initiate the return of the so-called Polish ancestral lands, which means the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus." In 2022, Polish places of national remembrance were devastated or destroyed in Belarus, incl. Home Army monument in Stryjewka, Home Army soldiers' quarters in Mikulishki, cemetery in Surkanty, Home Army graves and commemorations in Bogdany (Yewlashy), Bobravichy, Vialikija Yodkavichy, Vawkavysk, Dyndylishki, Kachychy, Iwye, Pieskawtsy, Ashmyany and Plebanishki. On 10 October 2022, the Polish government recommended Polish