Monday 15th November 2021
Will Lukashenko give in?
Belarus: Work on the return of migrants
In the border dispute with the EU, Belarusian ruler Lukashenko has adopted a diplomatic tone. His country is trying to make migrants travel to their home countries palatable. But “nobody wants to return,” asserts the head of state. Meanwhile, the EU is discussing new sanctions.
According to the ruler Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus is trying to return migrants on the Belarusian-Polish border to their home countries. “Active work is being done to convince people to please return home. But nobody wants to return,” said Lukashenko, according to the state news agency Belta. Belarus also wants “no border conflict” with Poland. This is “absolutely harmful to us,” Belta quoted the Belarusian ruler as saying. The current crisis should not develop into a “conflict”.
The leadership of the ex-Soviet Republic of Belarus is accused of deliberately bringing migrants into the country in order to then bring them to the border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia for onward travel to the EU. It is believed that Lukashenko is trying to take revenge for the sanctions that the EU has imposed because of the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition.
“Will tighten the sanctions further”
Because Poland, Latvia and Lithuania are now sealing off the EU’s external border, the situation in the border area is extremely tense. Thousands of people from countries like Syria or Iraq are waiting for a chance to illegally cross the border to the EU. The pressure on the border with Poland is particularly great. In temperatures around freezing point, thousands of migrants have been waiting for days on the Belarusian side of the border in makeshift camps in the forest.
Meanwhile, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas rejected Lukashenko’s demands for the lifting of EU sanctions. “Lukashenko demands of us that we remove all sanctions. We will give our answer today: We will tighten the sanctions further,” said Maas on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
The measures should take people who are involved in the smuggling of migrants towards the EU’s external borders. In addition, one will have to talk about tough economic sanctions. One will now continue on this path of hardship because there is no longer any reasonable alternative to it. “We are still far from the end of the spiral of sanctions,” said Maas. The EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell also announced “a new package of sanctions”.