Supporting anti-government forces in Belarus will cost Lithuania dearly. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who previously held back the flow of migrants seeking to get to European countries, lifted all restrictions, and the number of mainly Iraqi and Syrian citizens arriving in Lithuania has increased more than tenfold in recent years. Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte complained that 1,044 illegal migrants have been detained since June 1 "at the eastern border of the European Union", while over the past year, just over 80 refugees have been recorded there. Because of this massive influx, the Lithuanian authorities have introduced a state of emergency in the country.
Actually, Lukashenka openly stated his plans to make life as difficult as possible for the neighboring state, which calls for his removal from power. Back on May 26, speaking in parliament, he outlined the parameters of the future "hybrid war", as Minsk's actions in Vilnius are called: "We stopped drugs and migrants - now you will eat and catch them yourself." And on June 22, the Belarusian president, apparently, finally decided to open all the floodgates. Belarus, he said, refuses to protect Europe from illegal migration, drug trafficking and smuggling, since there is neither the strength nor the money for this because of the sanctions. And immediately after this, a powerful migration wave from the countries of the Middle East swept over Lithuania.
The retaliatory actions so far only demonstrate the helplessness of the Lithuanian authorities. They set out to install a Bruno spiral fence on the border with Belarus. “This is a barbed wire fence that the army is using for its own purposes. Such a solution can be applied, especially in certain areas, ”Prime Minister imonyte explained.
Why do refugees freely enter Lithuania? The fact is that border guards have no right to simply block the entrance to the country. According to international obligations, they must start checking all the circumstances after the migrant applies for political asylum. The EU is terribly concerned about the emerging situation. The head of the European Council Charles Michel visited Lithuania and personally got acquainted with the state of affairs by visiting the border. “It was important for me to come here in order to better imagine what the needs are and what can be done by the EU to help Lithuania.”
Now the EU is going to take concrete action to curb migration pressure.
The discussed plans look comical.
The EU external border control agency Frontex will send helicopters to help the Lithuanian border guards.
One rotorcraft will be provided by Poland, the second is still being negotiated with Germany.
Air control is completely ineffective, since we are talking about dense Belarusian forests, in which during the Great Patriotic War the Germans could not cope with the partisans.
Finland will send one car and five border guards to Lithuania.
Such strong support, of course, will make it possible to radically correct the situation.
But Alexander Lukashenko did not stop at opening borders for migrants. Minsk sent a request to Vilnius to interrogate the ex-President of Lithuania as a witness in the criminal case on the genocide of the Belarusian population. Prosecutor General of Belarus Andrei Shved said that "there is a list of SS punitive battalions, including Lithuanian ones, it is about 1,000 people, among them the well-known surname Adamkus appears." According to Shved, Lithuania, in accordance with a bilateral agreement, has undertaken an obligation "to carry out such instructions." In addition, the Prosecutor General said that the Belarusian side would like to know whether Adamkus swore allegiance to the fascist Reich, whether he voluntarily joined the ranks of the punitive Lithuanian SS battalion. Rather, it should be seen as sophisticated trolling aimed at destroying the reputation of the former president of Lithuania.
Lukashenko has brilliantly demonstrated that he is capable of causing serious damage to both a neighboring country and the European Union as a whole, without making any serious efforts.
Europe, on the other hand, showed that it, in fact, has nothing to answer to the insidiousness of the Belarusian leader.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.