Belarus: the border crisis in five questions

For several days, thousands of migrants have been trying to survive the freezing cold on the border between Belarus and the European Union, more particularly in Poland.In the background of this new migration crisis, tensions between Brussels and the regime of Belarusian leader Alexandre Loukachenko, accused of causing this influx of migrants.

What is the relationship between the political situation in Belarus and the current migration crisis at the entrance to the European Union?What role did Alexandre Loukachenko's regime play in the massive arrival of refugees?Here is a clarification of the situation.

1.What do we accuse Belarus?

The European Union has been accusing Belarus for several months of orchestrating an influx of migrants on the border with the Schengen area to destabilize the region.

The origin of tensions between Brussels and Minsk dates back to August 2020, when Alexandre Loukachenko, Belarusian president in power since 1994, was re -elected during falsified elections.These elections had triggered an unprecedented protest movement among the Belarusian population.The demonstrations against the re -election of the manager were then severely suppressed by police violence and heavy judicial sentences against journalists and opponents.The European Union then inflicted sanctions on this former Soviet Republic.The standoff had hardened during the diversion by the Belarus of an aircraft between Athens and Vilnius, forced to land in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.A political opponent on board was then arrested with his partner before the plane takes off again.The twenty-seven, but also the United States, had then agreed with new sanctions with regard to Belarus.

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The EU now accuses Belarus of having organized migratory movements to take revenge on these sanctions, and of having triggered a "hybrid war".Minsk is indeed accused of fueling the influx of refugees, mainly from the Middle East, by delivering visas and chartering flights.President Belarusian, supported by Russia, denied any instrumentalization of migrants.

2.What is the situation of migrants on site?

On Monday, the Polish government said that 3.000 to 4.000 migrants were near the border and found hundreds of attempts to pass the border.Currently, more than 2.000 people, especially Iraqi and Syrians Kurds according to the German media "Deutsche Welle", are gathered in a makeshift camp.A video broadcast by the Polish Defense ministry shows these migrants massaged on the border under freezing cold.An "emergency humanitarian aid", including blankets, warm clothes and diapers, was able to be sent to them on Thursday, said the UN agency for refugees.According to the Polish daily Gazeta Wybrcza, ten migrants have died in the border area since the start of this crisis.

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Faced with this influx of refugees, Poland has dispatched 15.000 soldiers on the border, erected a fence and barbed wire, and approved the construction of a wall.NGOs and journalists have been prohibited from access to the border area.Also a member of the EU, Lithuania, like Poland, has declared the state of emergency at its border with Belarus.

3.How did migrants get to the point?

Several EU countries have denounced a "migrant traffic" from Minsk.Indeed, as reported by the "Deutsche Welle", the candidates for exile go through travel agencies or Belarusian embassies via which they obtain tourist visas for Belarus.From then on, from Beirut, Damascus or Istanbul, they take a direct flight, chartered by the company Belarusian Belavia, affirms the media.

This Friday, faced with the pressures of Brussels, Turkey announced that nationals of Iraq, Syria and Yemen will no longer be allowed to fly to Belarus from Turkish airports, and "to new order ".

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The fate of migrants is now the subject of a war of words between Minsk and Warsaw and worries the international community.The two neighbors accuse each other of violence against migrants, Poland advancing that Belarusian guards force migrants to cross the border.In the "New York Times", testimonies of Iraqi refugees report violence on both sides of the border between Belarus and Lithuania.

4.How did European countries react?

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki did not chew his words to qualify the crisis in progress by accusing the regime of Alexandre Loukachenko as "state terrorism".The situation was even the subject of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday, after which European and American members condemned in a joint declaration a "instrumentalization orchestrated to behumans ”by Belarus.

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For his part, Brussels refuses to give in to "blackmail".The climbing of tensions will probably give rise to new sanctions with regard to Belarus, which the twenty-seven must approve on November 15.To which Biélorusian president threatened to respond by closing or limiting the gas supply of Europe via a gas pipeline passing through his country.

5.What is the role of Russia?

Russia appears as an essential actor of the conflict because it is allied with Belarus.Russian fighter planes have indeed flown over Belarusian territory, which Russia has justified as "recognition flights", "normal" activity in response to the deployment of soldiers on the Polish border.

But for the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, Russia is not involved in the "traffic" of migrants.On the other hand, it has a "capacity for influence" on Minsk to resolve the current crisis.Friday, Paris called Moscow to intervene with Belarus to end the flow of migrants.

Angela Merkel also asked Vladimir Putin to act in this case.The latter retorted by urging the EU to dialogue with Belarus.Vladimir Putin rejected all responsibility in the migration crisis on Saturday in an interview.

VIDEO.Why do migrants massage themselves on the border between Poland and Belarus?