WARSAW – About 4,000 migrants have massed on the border between Poland and Belarus since yesterday, escorted to the border by the armed forces of Minsk. Warsaw denounces: “They are pushed by the Belarusian army”
Belarus pushes migrants to EU borders. “Unacceptable”
by Claudio Tito
A tense situation between the two countries has worsened in recent months due to the illegal entry of migrants. The EU and NATO member countries, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are witnessing a daily increase in the number of people attempting to enter their borders from Belarus. Many of them come from the Middle East and Asia.
Videos circulated yesterday on the Telegram platform showed Belarusian soldiers with dogs in tow escorting hundreds of people, including minors, to the border. After an emergency government meeting, the Warsaw authorities decided to send 12,000 soldiers to the border to prevent access. Films released by the Polish Interior Ministry show border guards using tear gas to stop these people from advancing.
Night temperatures at the border are below freezing and there have already been casualties. Activists also reported that many migrants are children and women and are used as pawns in the political game between Belarus and neighboring countries.
“The migrant crisis at the border threatens the stability and security of the entire Union – wrote the Polish Prime Minister on Twitter Mateusz Morawiecki – Sealing the Polish border is in our national interest. This hybrid attack by the Lukashenko regime is aimed at all of us. We will not be intimidated and we will defend peace in Europe with our NATO and EU partners “.
The Belarusian Ministry of Defense denied Warsaw’s allegations of involvement of its own army in support of the flows: “The Belarusian Ministry of Defense considers the allegations of the Polish side to be groundless and unfounded,” he said in a statement, accusing himself Poland to “deliberately” raise the tension.
The Belarusian Minister of the Interior, Ivan Kubrakov, stated that migrants on the border with Poland have not violated national legislation and their presence on Belarusian territory is legal. “No violations of the law by migrants have been detected. They are legally on Belarusian territory,” Kubrakov told the official Belarusian news agency. Belta.
After weeks of harsh clashes between the European institutions and Poland on various issues, solidarity from Brussels arrived in Warsaw and harsh accusations against the regime of Aleksandr Lukashenko, guilty according to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, of “putting people’s lives at risk”. Furthermore, Von der Leyen described the “exploitation of migrants for political ends” by Belarus as “unacceptable”.
“No money for the walls.” Brussels divided on migrants
by our correspondent Claudio Tito
Germany urged the EU to “act” and help stop the flow: “Poland or Germany cannot do it alone,” the interim interior minister told the daily ‘Bild’. Horst Seehofer. “We have to help the Polish government to protect their external border. That would actually be the task of the European Commission. Now I call on them to act.”
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