Flight restrictions, repatriation proposal: The European Union (EU) welcomed “progress” on Friday in its efforts to stem the influx of migrants at its border with Belarus, but tensions have risen sharply. notch.
Under increasing pressure from Western countries who accuse it of orchestrating this crisis, Minsk has conducted joint military exercises with Russia and warned that it would respond “severely” to any attack.
This migratory crisis in Eastern Europe is causing growing concern in Western countries, the American Vice-President, Kamala Harris, denouncing the “very worrying” activity of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The EU accuses Belarus of having organized the influx of thousands of migrants to its border with Poland, in response to Western sanctions, and has been trying for several days to stem these movements by stopping flights to Minsk.
First victory, Turkey, major air junction between Europe and the Middle East, announced Friday that Iraqis, Syrians and Yemenis would no longer be allowed to board for Belarus from its airports “until further notice”.
Soon after, the Iraqi government said it was working to register Iraqi migrants stranded at the Belarus-Poland border who wanted to return “voluntarily”.
“We see progress on all fronts,” said the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, on Friday.
The restriction on flights to Belarus shows that European initiatives “are already experiencing some success,” added Berlin, while France called on Russia to intervene with Belarus to end the flow of migrants.
Russian paratroopers
Under pressure, Mr. Lukashenko can for the moment count on the support of his main ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian and Belarusian airborne troops conducted “combat exercises” near the border between Belarus and Poland on Friday. Two soldiers also died accidentally, their parachute not having opened.
These maneuvers, as well as the deployment of soldiers in the border area through Minsk and Warsaw, raise fears of an escalation in a more global context of struggle for influence between Moscow and the West in Eastern Europe.
Brussels and Washington expressed their concern on Friday about Russian military movements further south, near the Russian-Ukrainian border.
After a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday, several countries, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom, accused Minsk of wanting to “destabilize” its neighbors.
Last year, the EU and the United States imposed sanctions on Minsk after the crackdown on a protest movement sparked by the fraudulent re-election of Mr Lukashenko, in power since 1994.
Brussels said new punitive measures would be announced next week.
Lukashenko threatened to retaliate by stopping the transit of Russian gas to Europe on its territory, but the Kremlin assured that its deliveries would continue normally.
WHO “very worried”
On the ground, the migrants are caught between the Belarusian forces which, according to Warsaw, force them to advance by sometimes firing shots in the air, and the Polish border guards who push them back bluntly.
According to Polish border guards, between 3000 and 4000 people are stranded on the Belarusian side and “the scale of the problem is not diminishing”. With women and children among them, they occupy makeshift camps in freezing cold, having only wood fires to warm up.
Friday, the European director of WHO Hans Kluge said he was “very worried” for these “thousands of vulnerable people who are stranded in a no man’s land […], at the mercy of bad weather, while winter is fast approaching ”.
On Thursday, emergency humanitarian aid was delivered to some migrants, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
According to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, 10 migrants have died in this area in recent weeks.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Lukashenko’s regime of “state terrorism” and considered his country to be the target of a “new kind of war”, with civilians being used as “ammunition”.
Poland, a member country of the EU and the Schengen area, has deployed 15,000 soldiers and erected a fence topped with barbed wire.