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Lukashenko calls on Germany to take in refugees

2021-11-22T12:46:26.760Z


The federal government has already signaled its rejection, but the Belarusian dictator is sticking with it: Alexander Lukashenko wants Germany to accept 2,000 refugees, he is still waiting for an answer.


Enlarge image

Refugees in a warehouse on the Polish border

Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL

In the crisis of thousands of migrants in Belarus who want to cross the Polish border into the European Union, the ruler Alexander Lukashenko relies on Europe to give in. The Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said that Germany should accept 2000 of the refugees stuck in Belarus, thereby reinforcing a demand in the conflict with the EU. "I'm waiting for the EU's answer to the question about the 2,000 refugees," said Lukashenko at a meeting with the governor of the Grodno region, which borders on Poland. He asked the EU, and especially Germany, to “take these people from us”.

Lukashenko had phoned Chancellor Angela Merkel twice in the past week.

Lukashenko then claimed that the CDU politician wanted to work for a »humanitarian corridor« for 2,000 migrants, mainly to Germany.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) denied this, saying that the report about such an agreement with Belarus was wrong.

Lukashenko has targeted refugees flown in

The EU accuses Belarus of targeting people from crisis regions in the Middle East and Africa and leading them to the Polish border.

SPIEGEL research shows that Lukashenko used a system for this purpose that extends as far as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Dubai.

The people are mainly from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

In the meantime, various airlines do not transport people from certain countries to Minsk due to pressure from the EU.

Hundreds of people flew back to Iraq on a special flight last Thursday.

According to the ruler, his country is preparing another such flight for migrants to their homeland.

According to Lukashenko's earlier statements, there are 7,000 migrants in Belarus.

Polish government politicians and EU officials describe the behavior of the Belarusian leadership as a "hybrid attack".

Soldiers and police have cordoned off the border.

Those who make it to Poland and are found by the security forces are often forcibly brought back into the cold forest and forced through a hole in the border fence to Belarus.

Poland had legalized these so-called pushbacks under national law, they violate EU law and the Geneva Refugee Convention.

2000 refugees are waiting in the warehouse

more on the subject

  • Refugees in Belarus at the border: "Is there finally good news from Germany?" Christina Hebel reports from Bruzgi on the Belarusian-Polish border

  • Humanitarian crisis on the Polish eastern border: Krystyna patrols the fence armed, Maciej supplies refugees with food Steffen Lüdke and Lina Verschwele report from Podlasie

  • Mass emigration: "I would rather die on the Polish border than live in Iraq" Maximilian Popp reports from Erbil and Ranya, Iraq

  • Crisis on the Belarusian border: "The Polish pushbacks are illegal" An interview by Steffen Lüdke

For a few days now Belarus has housed around 2,000 of the migrants in a warehouse, but the authorities have dismantled the tent camp at the border fence.

Pictures from the state agency Belta showed soldiers distributing hot tea, cookies, yogurt and curd.

Belarusian security forces encourage the refugees to try to get to Poland.

Three young Iraqis told SPIEGEL that soldiers with ski masks had offered them to take them to the border with Poland.

Some had traveled with them, and now some of the refugees could no longer be reached.

The actions are now more likely to take place in the forest - and no longer at the official border crossing, where there were clashes last week.

"They want to go to Germany ... and we will try to help them in every possible way," said Lukashenko, according to a statement from his authority about the refugees.

slü / dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-11-22

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