Sunday 07 November 2021
More flights from the Middle East planned
Lukashenko continues to heat up conflict with EU
Belarus’ dictator has discovered migration from the Middle East as a means of political pressure against the EU. While thousands are being prevented from illegally entering the German border, Lukashenko is continuing to expand flights to the east. The EU’s reaction could soon follow.
There are no signs of easing in the conflict over illegal migration via Belarus into the EU. According to a report, the government of ruler Alexander Lukashenko is trying to expand flight connections from the Middle East to Minsk. Dozens of flights from Istanbul, Damascus and Dubai are set to land in the Belarusian capital every week, as reported by “Welt am Sonntag”. In addition, the government wants to open more airports for flights from the region.
According to the latest landing plans at Minsk Airport, around 40 weekly flights from Istanbul, Damascus and Dubai are planned until March. These three airports are currently most frequently used by migrants for direct flights to Belarus in order to travel from there to the EU, the report said. There are now more than twice as many flight connections from the region to Minsk than in winter 2019/2020. At that time, according to the report, around 17 planes from these and other airports in the Middle East landed in Minsk. This number has decreased again since the beginning of the corona pandemic.
Currently, around 800 to 1000 migrants land in Belarus every day, as “Welt am Sonntag” reported, citing German security groups. Accordingly, five more Belarusian airports will soon be able to fly to from the Middle East. They would be rededicated from national to international airports. One of the airports is located just 20 kilometers from the Polish border in Grodno, it said. According to the Federal Police, a total of 572 people from Belarus entered Germany illegally in the first four days of November alone. Over the entire current year, there have already been 8407 unauthorized border crossings with reference to the Eastern European country, as the authority announced on Friday.
“Completely Unscrupulous, Aggressive Regime”
Germany and the EU accuse the authoritarian Lukashenko of deliberately smuggling refugees from the Middle East into the EU across the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in order to retaliate against European sanctions. Following the presidential election in Belarus last year, which was accompanied by massive allegations of fraud, and the subsequent brutal crackdown on demonstrators by the security forces, the EU imposed a series of punitive measures against the Minsk leadership.
“The situation on the eastern border is unprecedented and caused by a completely unscrupulous, aggressive regime,” said EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson of “Welt am Sonntag”. “Lukashenko is desperate, the EU is taking action against his regime and is considering further sanctions.” For migrants stranded in the Polish-Belarusian border area, the situation is devastating, also in view of the increasing winter temperatures. Many of the people say they are being forced to cross the border into Poland by Belarusian security forces.
Polish border guards are sending some migrants back to Belarus by force. Several people had died in the border area in the past few months. In response to the increasing number of migrants, Poland had stationed thousands of soldiers at the border in recent weeks, erected a barbed wire fence and declared a state of emergency in the border area. In addition, so-called pushbacks have been legalized.
Parliament also recently gave the go-ahead for the construction of a controversial fortified border structure on the border with Belarus. The barrier is to extend over a length of more than 100 kilometers along the eastern EU external border.