And about. German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged to find a humane solution to the problem with illegal migrants aspiring to the EU in Belarus. Unfortunately, this is not happening at the moment, she said on Wednesday, November 10, ahead of talks with the heads of government of Portugal and Latvia, Antonio Costa and Krisjanis Karins, at the Meseberg castle near Berlin.
“On the other hand, it is important that the EU has the ability to defend its external borders,” she added. According to Merkel, during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier that day, she asked the Russian side to influence the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko in the crisis with migrants. “People are used there, they are victims of misanthropic politics, and something needs to be done against this,” Merkel said.
Merkel expressed solidarity with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania
At the same time, she called for solidarity with the EU countries bordering on Belarus. The European Union needs to determine how it can stop the actions of Minsk, which sends illegal migrants across the border to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, Merkel said.
In turn, the Prime Minister of Latvia called the situation on the border with Belarus “a hybrid attack on the entire European Union” and the smuggling of people carried out by the state. “We have never seen anything like this,” Karins emphasized. According to him, the only way to ensure the freedom of movement of people within the EU is to follow clear procedures for entering the EU.
Conflict between the EU and Belarus
The situation on the Polish-Belarusian border escalated sharply on November 8, when several thousand migrants approached it from Belarus, wishing to move to the EU. Border guards and servicemen managed to stop the illegal immigrants, they set up camp near the village of Kuznitsa. According to media reports, on the night of November 10, two groups of several dozen illegal immigrants were able to forcefully break through the border and penetrate into Polish territory in different places. All of them were returned to the Belarusian side, although some, as noted by the border guards, had to be found.
At the same time, Minsk accused Polish soldiers of using violence against migrants, claiming multiple injuries to at least four people. On the same day, the EU announced the imminent adoption of the fifth package of sanctions against Belarus, which will be a response to the hybrid attack on Minsk.
In May, Lukashenka announced that Minsk would no longer deter refugees from further travel to EU countries. After that, the flow of illegal migrants increased sharply, first to Lithuania and then to Poland. The EU accuses the Lukashenka regime of deliberately provoking a migration crisis and organizing the transfer of thousands of illegal immigrants to the EU borders in response to the sanctions that Europe has imposed against his regime.
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