EU accuses Belarus of organising 'illegal migration' aimed at destabilising bloc

The European Union recently accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the arrival of thousands of people at the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland in retaliation for sanctions imposed on the former Soviet republic.

In a statement, the 27-nation bloc condemned Belarus for its “aggressive behaviour” in organising illegal border crossings with migrants. Condemning the “direct attack” as an attempt to destabilise the bloc, the EU said that Belarus was pushing asylum seekers across its border. 

“This aggressive behavior … is unacceptable and amounts to a direct attack aimed at destabilizing and pressurizing the EU,” the 27-nation bloc said. 

It added, “The European Union will need to further consider its response to these situations in order to increase its effectiveness and to deter any future attempts to instrumentalize illegal migration in this manner.” 

According to the Associated Press, migrant movements have spiked dramatically after the European Union slapped sanctions on Belarus officials. So far, over 4,100 asylum-seekers have illegally crossed from Belarus into Lithuania. Poland has said that it had deployed nearly 1,000 troops to its border with Belarus in a bid to help border guards cope with a surge of migrants who were trying to enter the country. 

Following an increase in migrant movements, Slovenia, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency until the end of the year, said that EU nations are “determined to take all necessary measures to effectively protect all the EU external borders, by counteracting Belarus’ aggression”. They also “recognize the need to strengthen the entire external border of the European Union to prevent illegal border crossings in the future.”

Lukashenko accused of 'exploiting' migrants 

It is worth noting that many of the migrants were believed to have arrived in Belarus by plane on commercial flights from Iraq. For now, those flights have stopped due to the EU’s threat to impose visa restrictions on Iraqi citizens and officials. However, earlier this week, Lithuania’s border guard released video footage which it said reveals that migrants are being pushed across the border into EU territory by Belarus riot police. Another clip showed several people cross into Lithuania and immediately return to Belarus to be filmed by Belarus officials. 

EU Parliament President David Sassoli has accused Lukashenko of “exploiting these poor people, men and women”. “I have seen these outrageous actions when officials push people across the border. It is both an issue of human rights, and also a question of protecting the border of the EU,” Sassoli said. He added, “It is an organized activity of the Lukashenko regime.” 

In a separate statement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas also accused Lukashenko of launching a “hybrid attack” against the bloc by channelling migrants to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland in retaliation for the EU’s sanctions. Kallas said that this is “no refugee crisis” but is a “hybrid attack” on the EU. Merkel, on the other hand, said that she would raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. 

(With inputs from AP)