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Polish border guards attack a group of refugees on the border with Poland
Photo: KACPER PEMPEL / REUTERS
The federal government is concerned about the increasing number of refugees arriving in eastern Germany.
There are indications that the smuggling via Belarus to Poland, Latvia and Lithuania "is actively controlled by the regime in Minsk," said a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in Berlin on Friday.
The Federal Government is in very close contact with the institutions and member states of the European Union and is examining instruments to bring about a change in the regime in Minsk.
Rumors about "unproblematic entry" into the EU
In addition to the sanctions already enacted in June, "which are severely affecting the regime", the federal government proposed that further sanctions be adopted "in order to take targeted action against people smuggling and the political instrumentalization of refugees and migrants". At the same time, one is talking to the countries of origin of the refugees and the transit countries from which they come to Belarus by plane. The federal government is also countering rumors that unproblematic entry into the EU is possible via Belarus.
In May, the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced in response to stricter sanctions by the European Union that it would no longer prevent refugees from continuing to travel to Poland and the Baltic States.
As a result, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania tightened border security.
According to the federal police, more than 4,300 people have entered Germany without permission on the new escape route via Belarus and Poland since August.
They came primarily from Iraq as well as from Syria, Yemen and Iran.
Brandenburg, Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are particularly affected.
Seehofer promises more police in the border area
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) had promised the Brandenburg state government at the beginning of the week that the capacities of the Federal Police and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees would be increased in order to accelerate the registration and identification of newcomers.
This is to ensure that asylum seekers from the initial reception centers can be accommodated in other federal states more quickly.
The situation in Brandenburg is "completely under control," emphasized the spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
muk / dpa