The number of flights from the Middle East to Minsk doubled | Major political events in Belarus: assessments, forecasts, comments | DW

Belarus has significantly increased the number of flights from the Middle East to Minsk, the German weekly Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday, November 7, citing actual data on the arrival of aircraft at the airport of the Belarusian capital. According to this information, about 40 flights are planned weekly from the airports of Istanbul, Damascus and Dubai to Minsk until March. The air harbors of these cities are currently most often used by migrants for direct flights to Belarus in order to travel further to the EU countries.

Thus, the number of flights from the region to Minsk has more than doubled compared to the winter of 2019-2020, the newspaper notes. Then about 17 planes from these and other airports in the Middle East landed in Minsk a week. The number of flights reportedly dropped further after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, about 800-1000 migrants arrive in Belarus every day, according to the data of the German special services, cited by Welt am Sonntag. In this regard, according to the newspaper, five more Belarusian airports may soon be used to service flights from the Middle East. They will go from national to international. One of them, as noted, is located in the city of Grodno, just 20 kilometers from the Polish border.

Illegal migration to the EU from Belarus

Germany and other countries of the European Union accuse the regime of Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately provoking a migration crisis by organizing the transfer of thousands of illegal migrants to the EU borders in retaliation for the sanctions that Europe has imposed against his regime.

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, primarily to Lithuania and then to Poland. As a result of the conflict on the border between Poland and Belarus, several migrants have already died.

“The situation on the eastern border is unprecedented and the result of a completely unscrupulous, aggressive regime,” EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ilva Johansson told Welt am Sonntag. “Lukashenko is desperate, the EU is going against his regime and is considering further sanctions.”

Since the beginning of November, 572 people have illegally arrived in Germany from Belarus, the federal police said on Friday, November 5. According to official data, for the entire 2021, 8407 cases of illegal border crossings were recorded. The most tense situation remains on the German-Polish border.

See also:

• Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  “Balkan route”

  Until now, the main route of refugees to Western Europe passed through the Balkan countries – Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia. This path was finally blocked at the end of February, when the Macedonian border guards stopped letting refugees in Greece through. At the moment, several thousand migrants have accumulated on the Greek-Macedonian border.

• 

  Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  Treaty with Turkey: efficiency in question

  The EU’s agreement with Ankara provides for the return to Turkey of refugees who illegally travel to Greece. However, this will not stop the flow of migrants, experts say. Alternative routes are becoming more and more popular – for example, through Italy and Albania.

• 

  Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  Route through Italy

  One of the alternative routes starts in the port of Antalya in southern Turkey, in Mersin near the border with Syria, or in Athens in central Greece. The migrants then cross the Mediterranean Sea on fishing and small merchant ships and arrive in Italy. According to media reports, the cost of the ferry ranges from 3 to 5 thousand euros.

• 

  Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  Route through Albania

  The route through Albania is also gaining popularity, where refugees arrive from Greece, and then reach Italy by sea or continue to the north of Europe by car. However, the movement of migrants through the territory of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina is hampered by sapper mines left in the ground since the civil war in the 1990s. The photo shows the border of Albania with Greece.

• 

  Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  Route through Bulgaria

  Another alternative route runs through Bulgaria, from where migrants arrive from Turkey and then try to get to Romania or Serbia. True, this is very difficult: in Romania, the Carpathians are becoming an obstacle to further progress, and Serbia’s borders with the EU are closely monitored. As a result, many migrants settle in Bulgaria.

• 

  Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  Route through Romania

  Romania has so far remained on the sidelines of large flows of refugees, but in January 60 migrants from Pakistan, Iraq, Morocco, Afghanistan and Somalia were detained here, trying to cross the border of the country with Serbia at night. Recently, local authorities have noted an increase in the number of refugees from Ukraine and Moldova – as a rule, these are Afghans who got here through the countries of Central Asia.

• 

  Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  “Arctic route”

  Since the beginning of 2016, about a thousand refugees have arrived through the territory of Russia to Finland. According to the Finnish authorities, these are mainly migrants from Afghanistan, Syria, India and Bangladesh, many of whom have lived in Russia for a long time. Trying to avoid a further influx of refugees, the Russian Federation and Finland introduced temporary restrictions on the passage of third-country nationals at two border points.

• 

  Refugee path to Europe: alternative routes

  “Baltic route”

  Recently, cases of illegal crossing of the weakly fortified border of Latvia with Russia and Belarus have become more frequent. In 2015, about 500 illegal migrants were detained in the republic – mostly immigrants from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Latvia intends to limit the flow of migrants by using a fence at the border, which is to be built by 2020.

  Author: Alexandra Yolkina

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