The USA, Great Britain and a number of EU countries have accused Belarus of creating a migration crisis on the border with Poland and consider it a threat to regional stability.

This is stated in a joint statement by the participants in the closed consultations on this issue in the UN Security Council.

From the EU side, France, Norway, Ireland and Estonia joined the statement, in addition, Albania supported the statement.

Together with the United States and Great Britain, they condemned the alleged "organized use of people whose lives and well-being were threatened by Belarus for political purposes in order to destabilize neighboring countries and the external border of the European Union, as well as distract attention from the growing number of its own human rights violations." ...

The statement emphasizes that the actions of the Belarusian authorities allegedly pose a threat to regional stability.

“This tactic is unacceptable and requires decisive action and cooperation from the international community to hold Belarus accountable.

It testifies to the fact that the Lukashenka regime has become a threat to stability in the region, ”reads the text of the statement published on the website of the UK government.

In addition, the signatory countries express solidarity with Lithuania and Poland and are ready to discuss new sanctions against Minsk.

In addition, the statement promises to maintain unity in protecting the EU from "hybrid operations of the Belarusian authorities" and calls for cooperation to the countries of origin of migrants, which should warn their citizens against attempts to enter the EU through the territory of Belarus.

Before considering the situation in the UN Security Council, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the organization Dmitry Polyansky said that Moscow has "many questions" to the EU countries about the current crisis with migrants.

According to the Russian diplomat, after the suspension of the agreement with the EU on the admission of migrants, the Belarusian side has no reason to send them back, which would be a violation of international conventions.

At the same time, Polyansky stressed that neither Belarus nor Russia provide migrants with any assistance on the way to the border with Poland.

Aggravation of the crisis

Recall that the migration crisis on the borders of Belarus and the Baltic and Eastern European countries has been going on since the spring of 2021.

At the end of May, after the imposition of sanctions against Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko said that Western countries should independently exercise control over the flows of illegal migrants at their borders.

After that, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland began to receive reports of an increase in the number of illegal migrants detained on the border with Belarus, and then all three countries accused Minsk of creating a migration crisis.

The situation on the borders of Belarus with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, where migrants wishing to enter the EU have accumulated, sharply aggravated on November 8.

On the Belarusian side, several thousand people gathered on the border with Poland, who tried to get into the territory of the neighboring country, breaking the barbed wire fence.

Warsaw and Vilnius sent troops to the border to contain refugees attempting to break into Polish territory.

Against the background of the aggravated situation, Poland closed the Kuznitsa checkpoint on the border with Belarus.

In addition, the Minister of Defense of the Republic Mariusz Blaszczak said that Poland increased the number of soldiers on the border with Belarus to 15 thousand, and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki promised to close regular checkpoints on the border with Belarus if migrants attempt to storm.

In turn, the Seimas of Lithuania approved the introduction of a state of emergency in the regions bordering with Belarus on November 10.

And the head of the Latvian border service, Guntis Pujats, said that her border guards are ready to use special means to deter migrants.

On November 12, the Polish border service reported that since August this year, it has recorded 33.2 thousand attempts to illegally cross the Polish-Belarusian border, which is 370 times more than in 2020.

At the same time, the border committee of Belarus said that it was recording an escalation of tension on the border with Poland, where the refugees were.

According to the Belarusian border guards, apart from the use of physical violence and the use of gas when refugees try to cross over to the neighboring side, "Polish soldiers are using military weapons and shooting over their heads."

Position of Belarus

A way out of this situation could be a dialogue between Belarus and the European Union with the development of a roadmap for resolving the crisis, said Olga Chupris, deputy head of the presidential administration of Belarus.

“How to get out of this situation?

It seems to me that the leaders of neighboring states - Poland, Lithuania, - as well as other EU states need to start a dialogue with official representatives, the leadership of the Republic of Belarus with a view to building a roadmap in order to prevent the situation from getting worse, "Chupris said in an interview with ONT TV channel on November 12. ...

  • Polish-Belarusian border

  • Reuters

  • © Ramil Nasibulin

According to her, this will help to overcome the consequences of the current crisis, which may entail human casualties.

The roadmap will allow uniting efforts to help migrants, and the UN High Commissioners for Human Rights and Refugees should get involved in the work, Chupris said.

A similar position was voiced by the Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Valentin Rybakov, who said that Minsk was waiting for the first step in dialogue to resolve the problem from the European Union.

In addition, he accused Poland and Lithuania of using the current situation to obtain additional preferences and funds from the EU.

In turn, the official representative of the border committee of Belarus Anton Bychkovsky said that the Polish side spreads false information about the situation at the border and the actions of the border guards of the republic, who allegedly contributed to the attempt to break through migrants into Poland on the evening of November 11.

“Such public informational stuffing by the Polish side is an attempt to discredit the Belarusian servicemen.

As you can see, at present all the efforts of the Polish side are aimed not at solving the problem of the migration crisis on the EU border, but at actively spreading misinformation, "Bychkovskiy TASS quotes.

According to Pavel Feldman, deputy director of the RUDN Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts, European countries refuse to enter into a dialogue with official Minsk on the migration crisis, as this would mean recognition of Alexander Lukashenko as the country's legitimate president.

“And considering that European politicians are not yet ready for dialogue, it means that they will resort to the tactics of blackmail and pressure on Lukashenka.

In this regard, it can be expected that in the near future another blow will be inflicted on the Belarusian economy, in particular, new personal sanctions will be introduced, "the analyst suggested in a commentary on RT.

At the same time, sooner or later the EU will have to enter into negotiations with Lukashenka, because “there is no other way to solve the problem,” Pavel Feldman stressed.

“Moreover, Lukashenka is a politician who always thinks quite pragmatically, he is ready to bargain, and if European politicians accept him as a party to negotiations, then this migration crisis will be overcome in a matter of days,” the expert is sure.

In turn, Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, in an interview with RT, emphasized that the states that made the statement were to blame, and above all the United States and Great Britain, which by their actions created a humanitarian crisis in the countries of the Middle East.

“In order to resolve the situation with the migration crisis, it is necessary to create conditions for peace and security of refugees at home,” the expert said.

Now Poland is using this situation for its foreign policy goals, which have no direct relation to Belarus, added Vladimir Shapovalov.

“For example, the Polish leadership, being in a difficult conflict with the European Union, is trying to demonstrate its“ importance ”and“ significance ”by presenting itself as a shield protecting Europe.

In addition, for the Polish government, this situation is convenient for combating opposition and dissent: under the guise of a "terrible threat" from the east, the Polish government is cleaning up the political space, getting rid of the disaffected and strengthening its position, "the interlocutor of RT explained.

  • Bonfire in the camp of migrants at the border

  • Reuters

  • © Ramil Nasibulin

However, the current, insignificant in scale, part of the migration flow cannot be compared with the flow of refugees in 2015, when the migration crisis swept the whole of Europe, Shapovalov recalled.

“This situation can be resolved through direct dialogue between the EU and Belarus.

However, this dialogue is impossible, since European countries are not going to recognize Lukashenko's power as legitimate and continue to conduct a dialogue with Tikhanovskaya, who is not able to influence the resolution of this problem.

But for the sake of absurd political ideas, the EU countries will introduce new sanctions against Minsk, ”the expert concluded.