Belarus ＂sends＂ refugees to the EU border？ Kegong： The situation on the border between Poland and Belarus is ＂shocking＂
[Global Times reporter Yu Yang Ren Zhong Liu Yupeng] The border area between Poland and Belarus has become the latest front line for the western camp to compete with the Russian-Belarusian alliance. It is reported that in the past few days, the Belarusian army "escorted" nearly 1,000 refugees to the border of Bai Bo every day; As of the 9th, Turkish Airlines still sent refugees from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan from Istanbul to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, twice a day. The Polish Defense Minister warned on the 8th that tens of thousands of Polish soldiers are ready to "defend the border". On the 9th, the European Commission accused Belarus of luring immigrants with "inhuman and gangster ways" and "false promises of easy entry into the EU". Belarus insists that the immigrants arrived there legally, and it was only transferred "as a hospitable country". "At that time, more than 2,000 Polish soldiers invaded Iraq for’ establishing democracy’. Why doesn’t Poland accept as many’ grateful Iraqis’ as possible today? " Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Zacharova said this on the 8th.
Thousands of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa have recently tried to enter Poland from Belarus. The picture shows the Polish military police (behind the barbed wire) guarding the border between Poland and Belarus on November 8.
Polish border guards use tear gas.
The head of the Polish Border Service confirmed that a wave of illegal immigrants who tried to enter Poland from the Belarusian border had been stopped on the evening of the 8th local time, and these immigrants were still camped on the Belarusian side of the Bai Bo border on the 9th. The Polish Border Service announced that customs clearance at Kuznica port on the border of Bai Bo was suspended from 7: 00 on November 9.
According to the British "Guardian" report, the video released by Belarusian media on the 8th showed that white armed border police wearing combat uniforms led a group of people, including families with children, to a forest on the border of Bai Bo in an organized way along the border road. Critics believe that this is Lukashenko’s "dramatic attempt" to put pressure on Poland. Subsequent video footage showed that Polish border police used tear gas to drive people away because many people tried to cross the border through barbed wire. Polish helicopters hovered over the scene, and some immigrants shouted "Germany!" This is their final destination.
On the 9th, Polish President Duda accused Belarus of attacking the border between Poland and the European Union "in an unprecedented way". "This is an act of aggression that must be resisted to fulfill our obligations as a member of the European Union". Polish Defense Minister Bovashchak tweeted on the 8 th: "More than 12,000 soldiers have been on standby at the border." Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki warned Belarus on Facebook on the 8th: "The border of the Republic of Poland is not just a line on the map. It is sacred-in order to protect it, generations of Polish people have shed blood. "
The border between Bai Bo is more than 400 kilometers long, and the two countries also share the last virgin forest in Europe-Biawovieza forest, which makes it more difficult to prevent refugees from entering the EU. Poland’s Election newspaper called on NATO to "provide additional military assistance to Poland" to deal with the crisis.
On the 9th, White President’s Press Office said that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation to discuss Poland’s "severe actions against peaceful people". On the 9th, the Belarusian State Border Committee voiced through Facebook, "Foreigners near the Polish border expressed their intention to enter Polish territory and exercise their right to apply for refugee status from the EU. All these people, including women and children, do not pose a security threat and have no aggressive behavior. ""We do not rule out provocative actions by the Polish side to prove that the use of force and special means against refugees is justified. " On the 9th, the Belarusian Ministry of Defence also accused Poland of sending troops to the border with Bai Bo in violation of the agreement between the two countries.
Poland’s forced expulsion of border migrants has been criticized by human rights organizations. The border environment of Bai Bo is harsh, especially the temperature has dropped below zero degrees Celsius recently. CNN9 said on the 9th that the Polish government admitted that at least seven refugees died after crossing into Poland.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary peskov said on the 9 th that the situation on the border between Poland and Belarus is "shocking". "In this case, the most important thing is human life and health … We are paying close attention to this matter."
The "refugee flight" flew from the Middle East to Minsk.
According to the Guardian, this deadly crisis has escalated. According to Polish statistics, more than 30,000 refugees have tried to enter Belarus since August, and there were about 17,000 in October alone. Polish border guards told Reuters on the 9th that about 800 people camped at the place where they tried to cross the border the night before. Together with illegal immigrants stranded in the nearby forest, it is estimated that there are more than 4,000 people at present. According to the Russian News Agency reported on the 9th, the Lithuanian government is preparing for the possibility of similar "invasion", and the Ministry of the Interior proposes to declare a "state of emergency".
The EU accused Belarus of transporting illegal immigrants as a means to "retaliate against EU sanctions". Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement on the 8th that the EU should now extend the sanctions against the Belarusian regime: "It is unacceptable to use immigrants for political purposes." She also promised to provide more support to countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to deal with the influx of refugees on the border, and said that the EU would explore "how to sanction, including blacklisting third-country airlines engaged in human trafficking".
According to the website of "EU Observer" and the BBC)9 reported on the 9th, Turkish Airlines and Dubai Airlines may be blacklisted by the EU for transporting immigrants to Belarus, and airlines from Syria, Iran and Qatar are also under consideration. According to the data of Minsk Airport on the 9th, Turkish Airlines still sends immigrants from Istanbul to Minsk twice a day. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy borrell will visit the main countries of origin and transit of refugees in the next few days, including Armenia, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, and call on them to take actions to prevent illegal immigrants from "falling into the trap set by Belarusian authorities".
The German newspaper Le Monde quoted German intelligence sources as saying that about 800 to 1,000 immigrants, mainly from the Middle East, arrive in Belarus every day. After their arrival, the Belarusian regime helped them to enter the European Union. The latest flight schedule of Minsk Airport shows that until March next year, the airport plans to have about 40 flights from Middle Eastern countries every week. Moreover, in the near future, the country will open five other civil airports to provide services for the "refugee route", among which Grodno Airport is only 20 kilometers away from Poland.
American citizens apply for asylum in Belarus.
On the 8th, the State Council spokeswoman Price expressed concern about "disturbing images and reports from the border of Bai Bo" and called on Minsk regime to "immediately stop planning and forcing illegal immigrants to cross the border into the EU". He also said that the United States "strongly condemns the political exploitation and coercion of the vulnerable groups by the Lukashenko regime, and the ruthless and inhumane facilitation of illegal immigrants to cross the border".
However, to the embarrassment of the U.S. government, American citizens actually applied for political asylum in Belarus. According to a report by Belarusian TV on the 8th, American Neumann, who is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for attacking the police in the riots on Capitol Hill on January 6th this year, is applying for asylum in Belarus. After the FBI began to arrest him, he hid in Xizang in the United States, then fled to Europe, and then arrived in Ukraine in March this year, where he was still being hunted. In August this year, he was arrested by the Belarusian border forces while crossing the Ukrainian border. White TV said Neumann was "an ordinary American whose shop was burned down by’ black life is life’ activists" and "he lost everything and is being persecuted by the United States".
"The immigration crisis on the border of Bai Bo has rapidly evolved into an international event." The website of "EU Observer" said that the Polish special envoy to the EU will hold crisis talks with the special envoys of 26 other EU countries in Brussels on the 9th. NATO has a treaty obligation to protect Polish territory and has a multinational force in Poland. On the 9th, Germany urged the EU to "take action" to help Poland ensure border security. The German Bild newspaper described the incident as a "joint attack on the EU" by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Erdogan and Belarusian President Lukashenko. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson Sebert told the Associated Press on the 8 th: "The Belarusian regime is acting as a human trafficker."
The Hill said that Belarus is one of Russia’s main allies, and the title of the white TV program about Neumann is "Goodbye America", in order to boost the anti-American propaganda supported by Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the border crisis in Bai Bo on the 9th, saying, "Don’t forget where the legs grow". He said: "The policy towards the Middle East and North Africa that the West, including NATO and the European Union, has been pursuing for many years, that is, trying to impose a’ better life’ on them in the Western way. This is where the legs grow. I believe that to solve these problems, we must fully respect the principles of international humanitarianism. "
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