Migrants stay in a tent camp near the Bruzgi checkpoint on the Polish border, on Wednesday.
Leonid Shcheglov / Leonid Shcheglov / BelTA / TASS
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Migrants stay in a tent camp near the Bruzgi checkpoint on the Polish border, on Wednesday.
Leonid Shcheglov / Leonid Shcheglov / BelTA / TASS
Conflict between migrants and Polish border guards has become the biggest challenge facing the EU’s borders in years. The crisis seems to have been brought up by the Belarusian leader because of the country’s tensions with the bloc.
Poland’s defense minister said on Wednesday the crisis on the border with Belarus, where thousands of migrants are trying to cross, could take months to resolve, even if there are signs of a crisis. confrontation may be going down.
Although some people have managed to cross the border with Belarus in recent weeks, Poland has now strengthened its border fences and closed border crossings in response to what many see as the crisis. Belarus’ production crisis’ dictatorial presidentAlexander Lukashenko, who is accused of using migrants as pawns in a blackmail game with the EU.
Here’s how the crisis started and what Belarus seems to be trying to accomplish.
How did tensions rise at the border?
Since the beginning of this month, a wave of migrants from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries, have camped in the Białowieża Forest that stretches across the border in freezing temperatures.
They are hoping in Poland. Belarus has been accused of encouraging migrants to fly to its capital Minsk, before pushing them towards the border with Poland, and even encouraging them to clash with Polish authorities. It is an allegation that Lukashenko’s regime has denied.
The standoff has seen Polish border forces use water cannon and tear gas this week to hit back at migrants who threw stones at the Belarusian side. Belarus is not a member of the European Union, but Poland is. For migrants, Poland represents a door to the EU and the promise of a better life.
Although only about 3,000 to 4,000 migrants trying to cross, it has become the biggest challenge to the EU’s borders since 2015, when hundreds of thousands of migrants gathered in Turkey to cross to Europe. More than a million migrants was finally allowed into the block.
The body of Gaylan Delir Ismael, 25, from the Kurdish region of Iraq, arrived at Irbil airport, Iraq, early Monday. Like thousands of other Iraqis and Syrians, Gaylan came to Belarus on an easily obtained tourist visa in the hope of going to Germany and starting a new life. But he never got there, dying in a dark and soggy forest on the Belarus-Polish border.
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The body of Gaylan Delir Ismael, 25, from the Kurdish region of Iraq, arrived at Irbil airport, Iraq, early Monday. Like thousands of other Iraqis and Syrians, Gaylan came to Belarus on an easily obtained tourist visa in the hope of going to Germany and starting a new life. But he never got there, dying in a dark and soggy forest on the Belarus-Polish border.
AP
“It’s a terrible situation,” said Hanna Liubakova, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasian Center.
Many of them were lured there by Belarus, the EU said. Liubakova told NPR that travel agencies in Belarus had made promises that “it would take only a few hours to cross the forest and swamp,” to cross the border. For most, she speaks, Poland is considered only the first stop of the EU. They hope to settle in countries like Germany.
Some migrants are stranded at the border and live outdoors or in makeshift tents dead in frozen conditions.
Emre Peker, Europe director at Eurasia Group, a consulting firm, says people are being “tricked”.
Migrants receive humanitarian aid in a tent camp near the Bruzgi checkpoint, Wednesday.
Leonid Shcheglov / Leonid Shcheglov / BelTA / TASS
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Migrants receive humanitarian aid in a tent camp near the Bruzgi checkpoint, Wednesday.
Leonid Shcheglov / Leonid Shcheglov / BelTA / TASS
“Some come from war-torn places. Some come from less than ideal backgrounds and circumstances,” Peker told NPR. “They’re paying a lot of money to take that risk and try to create a better life for themselves.”
Last month, NPR spoke with two migrants from Cuba, Doniel Machado Pujol and Raydel Aparicio Bringa, who said they had survived river water and raw corn kernels and slept under piles of leaves before being arrested by Ba police. Lan arrested.
“We flew from Havana to Moscow, then a man picked us up and drove us to Belarus, and that’s where our journey got so much worse,” said Machado Pujol, injured and depressed. nutrition, told Rob Schmitz of NPR.
Peker said Russia is a close ally of Belarus and that Moscow is “an important transit hub”. “Russia has so far not shown any desire or willingness to scale up flights to and from the Middle East and Minsk to limit the arrival of these migrants.”
This week, Polish guards used water cannon and tear gas against stone-throwing migrants at the Kuznica-Bruzgi border crossing. These are the kinds of scenes that appear to fall into the hands of Lukashenko, who is angry with the EU for the sanctions imposed on his regime following the elections in August 2020.
What does the Belarusian leader hope to achieve?
Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus for more than a quarter of a century, was returned last year to a sixth presidential term in a vote widely seen as fraudulent.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pointed to a V during a rally of his supporters in Independence Square last year.
Valery Sharifulin / Valery Sharifulin / TASS
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pointed to a V during a rally of his supporters in Independence Square last year.
Valery Sharifulin / Valery Sharifulin / TASS
What follows is a violent crackdown on political dissidents anti-government protests following a fraud probe.
In May, Belarus forced an international flight to land in the Belarussian capital Minsk so that the authorities there could arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich, a former editor and founder of an opposition blog and social media channel who has been on a Ryanair jet.
The brazen act caused the EU to impose retaliatory sanctions. Soon after, Lukashenko then alluded to his ability to quickly spark a migration crisis against EU neighbors – Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
“Lukashenko wants to show his revenge on the sanctions,” said Liubakova of the Eurasian Center. But the leader also wants to shift the discussion from political prisoners, torture and repression under his rule to something outside, she said: “He wants to focus to refocus love situation and force the West to see the crisis on the border and ignore the people. rights situation in Belarus.”
However, the leader of Belarus – a virtual state excluding Russia – has also been isolated diplomatically since last year’s elections.
“His main aim is to restore contact with European leaders,” said Maxim Samorukov, a fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, told NPR.
“He understands the force…and believes [the EU] Samorukov said.
What can Poland and the EU do?
The EU is planning additional sanctions against Belarus in response to the migrant crisis. But since sanctions are the main cause of the situation, it is unclear what impact they will have.
Meanwhile, outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation Monday with Lukashenko in a rare phone call between the two leaders. Germany will is likely to receive the largest influx of new migrants if Poland opens up. She and Lukashenko agree that the situation needs to be de-escalated, but Lukashenko says he and Merkel don’t keep an eye on how migrants arrive in Belarus, according to the report. Deutsche Welle.
Their conversation seems to have helped de-escalate the situation at the border amid reports that Belarus is putting migrants on buses shipped out of the area.
Merkel also spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him to use his leverage on Lukashenko.
So Lukashenko succeeded in reopening the dialogue, but it is unclear where that might lead, as the international community continues to grow disgusted with his heavy-handed and undemocratic tactics.
Meanwhile, the fate of the migrants is also unclear.
Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council tell NPR’s Morning version that “both sides of this abusive power game should have a responsibility towards migrants, who are vulnerable.”
“They are men, women and children,” Egeland said. “The European Union and Poland are obliged to hear the cases of asylum seekers. It is international law. And Belarus and Russia must prevent this by using them as pawns on the table. some flag.”
