Warsaw accuses Minsk of increasing tourist visas for applicants to emigrate to the EU, in order to put pressure on its borders after the sanctions taken against it.
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Poland denounces the simultaneous arrival of hundreds of migrants at its border from Belarus, Monday, November 8, in a context already tense for several weeks. These people are heading for the Kuznica border crossing and “a group has already tried to cross the border”Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller told reporters. According to him, this an operation is organized “by persons linked to Belarusian special services”.
>> On the borders of Europe, migrants trapped in a “hybrid war” between Belarus and Poland
Since the morning, dozens of videos have been posted on social media showing groups of hundreds of people, with warm clothes and backpacks, walking along a road. According to a geolocation made by AFP, one of the videos was taken near buildings in Bruzgi in Belarus, 1.2 kilometers from the border with Poland. A video released by the Polish Defense Ministry reports hundreds of migrants gathered along the border near the Bruzgi-Kuznica border post.
Grupa migrantów znajduje się obecnie w okolicach Kuźnicy pic.twitter.com/w5VxXp9QqQ
– Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej (@MON_GOV_PL) November 8, 2021
Another video released by the Interior Ministry shows part of the border fence installed by Poland destroyed, with hundreds of migrants on one side, and soldiers, Polish border guards and police in riot gear. the other. Belarusian border guards confirmed in a statement that“at the moment a large group of refugees with personal belongings are moving along the highway towards the border with poland”.
NATO denounced in a press release “the use of migrants by the regime [du président bélarusse Alexandre] Lukashenko as a hybrid tactic is unacceptable “. The Atlantic alliance has expressed its concern to “climbing” of the situation at the border. “We call on Belarus to comply with international law.”
The EU accuses Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating a wave of migrants and refugees, mainly from the Middle East, in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Brussels following a brutal crackdown by his regime against the opposition. Several migrants told franceinfo how they obtained a tourist visa to travel to Belarus. Once at the border, it was impossible for them to turn back.