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DPA
Warsaw
The crisis over migrants trying to reach the European Union from Belarus is intensifying, as countries surrounding Belarus increase security at their borders and Minsk hints at a gas supply cut to Europe.
Ukraine, which shares a long border on its northern edge with Belarus, said it was sending some 8,500 military and police personnel to the area. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj said during a visit to the north-western region of Volhynia - where the Ukraine-Belarus border meets the Polish border - that the contingent would include 3,000 border soldiers. Some 15 helicopters would help patrol the region, he said.
Poland meanwhile, which has been beefing up its border security for weeks, asked for help in preventing any breaches by the migrants, who now number in the low thousands. Polish authorities reported on Thursday that a large group of migrants had tried during the night to break through to Polish territory.
Deputy interior minister Bartosz Grodecki told broadcaster Polsat News that the “violent” attempt to cross the border involved about 150 people. The attempt was countered by border officers, soldiers and about 20 police, a police spokesperson told reporters.
An EU Commission spokesperson confirmed on Thursday that experts from Europol’s anti-people-smuggling centre would be “supporting Poland in overcoming the current situation at the border.”
Lithuania on Thursday extended special powers granted to soldiers at its own border with Belarus. The decision gives the soldiers more powers to stop and search suspects near the border.
Many hundreds of migrants, including many children, are staying in the open in near-freezing temperatures. Some have tents, others have only the nearby woods for shelter.
Mostly from the Middle East, they are caught between the authoritarian regime of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who is accused of helping them reach the border area, and the Polish authorities who are refusing to let them into EU territory.
The fierce row between Minsk and Brussels goes back to disputed elections in Belarus in August 2020 and Lukashenko’s violent crackdown on protesters; since then, the EU has refused to recognize him as the country’s legitimate leader and imposed sanctions. More sanctions are expected to be imposed soon.
Lukashenko said that in light of the sanctions he will no longer stop migrants from coming through Belarus - but Brussels and Warsaw accuse him of flying the migrants in from crisis zones and keeping them deliberately in the border area.
Lukashenko - sometimes dubbed the “Europe’s last dictator” - has stood firm in the face of increasing pressure on his regime. On Thursday he threatened to cut energy supplies to Europe.
Warsaw
The crisis over migrants trying to reach the European Union from Belarus is intensifying, as countries surrounding Belarus increase security at their borders and Minsk hints at a gas supply cut to Europe.
Ukraine, which shares a long border on its northern edge with Belarus, said it was sending some 8,500 military and police personnel to the area. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj said during a visit to the north-western region of Volhynia - where the Ukraine-Belarus border meets the Polish border - that the contingent would include 3,000 border soldiers. Some 15 helicopters would help patrol the region, he said.
Poland meanwhile, which has been beefing up its border security for weeks, asked for help in preventing any breaches by the migrants, who now number in the low thousands. Polish authorities reported on Thursday that a large group of migrants had tried during the night to break through to Polish territory.
Deputy interior minister Bartosz Grodecki told broadcaster Polsat News that the “violent” attempt to cross the border involved about 150 people. The attempt was countered by border officers, soldiers and about 20 police, a police spokesperson told reporters.
An EU Commission spokesperson confirmed on Thursday that experts from Europol’s anti-people-smuggling centre would be “supporting Poland in overcoming the current situation at the border.”
Lithuania on Thursday extended special powers granted to soldiers at its own border with Belarus. The decision gives the soldiers more powers to stop and search suspects near the border.
Many hundreds of migrants, including many children, are staying in the open in near-freezing temperatures. Some have tents, others have only the nearby woods for shelter.
Mostly from the Middle East, they are caught between the authoritarian regime of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who is accused of helping them reach the border area, and the Polish authorities who are refusing to let them into EU territory.
The fierce row between Minsk and Brussels goes back to disputed elections in Belarus in August 2020 and Lukashenko’s violent crackdown on protesters; since then, the EU has refused to recognize him as the country’s legitimate leader and imposed sanctions. More sanctions are expected to be imposed soon.
Lukashenko said that in light of the sanctions he will no longer stop migrants from coming through Belarus - but Brussels and Warsaw accuse him of flying the migrants in from crisis zones and keeping them deliberately in the border area.
Lukashenko - sometimes dubbed the “Europe’s last dictator” - has stood firm in the face of increasing pressure on his regime. On Thursday he threatened to cut energy supplies to Europe.
