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Lithuanian soldiers install barbed wire in Druskininkai on the border with Belarus
Photo: JANIS LAIZANS / REUTERS
According to neighboring Lithuania, Belarus is using migrants as a means of pressure against the European Union.
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko is apparently supposed to bring migrants into the country from Iraq, Iran and Syria in order to then deport them to the EU.
For several weeks, Lithuania has reported a sharp increase in the number of people entering without valid papers.
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has now called for stricter EU action. "If the migration situation in Lithuania continues to worsen, there must be new and tougher European sanctions against Belarus," Landsbergis told the "Welt". “I suggested that to the council. This is not a refugee crisis, but a 'hybrid warfare' against us. "
The Belarusian ruler Lukashenko had repeatedly threatened the EU to allow refugees from war zones to pass in response to the sanctions imposed on his country.
"We won't stop anyone," Lukashenko had said.
People are on their way from war zones to "warm and comfortable Europe" and workers are needed in Germany.
Initially, Lithuania, which has a border of almost 680 kilometers with Belarus, is particularly affected.
Several hundred migrants had illegally crossed the border in the past few weeks.
Lithuania recently tightened its asylum regulations and built a fence on the border with the neighboring country.
In the meantime, officials from the European border protection agency Frontex have also been stationed there.
"We have to pool our efforts in Europe in order to break up Lukashenko's smuggling network," said Landsbergis. The regime in Belarus is getting rich, Gabrielius called it a "profitable business" for the country. »Belarusian companies are active in the countries of origin to organize the trips. One of our neighboring countries is selling tickets for 7,000 or 8,000 euros, with which people are supposed to enter the EU illegally. «The route is also attractive for migrants because it poses no dangers.
The Lithuanian government is a sharp critic of Lukashenko.
In addition, the EU and NATO states have taken in many activists persecuted in Belarus, including opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya.
Lukashenko, who has ruled for almost three decades, officially declared himself the winner after the election in August 2020 despite massive allegations of fraud.
This sparked mass protests that were brutally suppressed by the security forces.
In June the EU put comprehensive economic sanctions in place against Belarus.
The background to this was the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk, during which the blogger Roman Protassewitsch, who was critical of the government, was arrested.
lau / dpa / AFP
