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Alexander Lukashenko in Bruzgi
Photo: Sergei Bobylev / imago images / ITAR-TASS
When Alexander Lukashenko appears in Bruzgi, the state television broadcasts live.
In the place about a kilometer away from the Polish border, migrants who are stranded in Belarus and want to enter the EU have been stuck for weeks.
"We Belarusians, including myself, will do whatever you want, even if it's bad for Poles, Latvians and some other people," says Lukashenko.
It is the continuation of his attempts to put pressure on the European Union.
He will do everything possible to ask Western governments to help the people.
"If the Germans and Poles don't hear me today, it's not my fault." He again asked Germany to accept 2,000 migrants.
Berlin had already refused this repeatedly.
The EU continues to show harshness towards the Belarusian dictator who is trying to blackmail it.
Lukashenko had hoped to be able to soften the tough sanctions against his regime.
Instead, Brussels announced that it would soon impose new sanctions.
But very few of the up to 1,800 refugees whom the regime had housed in a warehouse in Bruzgi know about this.
You draw hope from Lukashenko's visit.
Many of the people now believed that they would soon be able to go to Germany, write refugees to SPIEGEL, who remain on the shelves of the "transport and logistics center". "The people here are so happy that Lukashenko has promised them to take them to the West," said Kurd Hawre. There is no specific information on how this should be done. State television showed people clapping as they thanked Lukashenko.
Meanwhile, the ruler continues to try to navigate the "migration crisis" - a crisis that he himself created.
His regime had lured people from the Middle East into the country with tourist visas for months and had them brought to the border with Lithuania and Poland.
Security forces from the two EU countries have been pushing people back there for months.
Thousands, mostly Northern Iraqis and Syrians, are stuck in Belarus.
Double game of the ruler
Lukashenko plays for time.
On the one hand, he has the people in Bruzgi poorly supplied and the state media report on it in detail. The regime has flown several hundred people to Iraq. These special flights from Iraqi Airways to Erbil now resemble security operations: minibuses bring people to the airport in Minsk. Many Belarusians are familiar with the vehicles from the months of the protests against Lukashenko last year. They were taken to police stations and prisons in such vehicles. Security guards with buttons in their ears and radios accompany the refugees to the gate.
On the other hand, the Belarusian regime continues to bring refugees to the border and push them towards Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Dozens of people report beatings and ill-treatment by Belarusian security forces who did not allow them to return to Minsk.
Claim of millions of dollars
Thousands of people are left to fend for themselves in Minsk.
There they rest, hide in apartments and hostels.
Those who run out of money sleep on the street.
The first migrants have now started to extend their visas, many of which have already expired - which is possible by paying a fee of 100 dollars.
Lukashenko, meanwhile, drew up a bill on Friday: His country allegedly spent around 12.6 million dollars to feed the migrants.
He called on the EU to support Belarus financially.
The regime had earned millions of dollars by issuing visas and staying overnight in hotels in Minsk, which are connected to the presidential administration.
The EU had announced that it would provide 700,000 euros for humanitarian aid - money that will not go to the Belarusian authorities, but to the International Red Cross.
Brussels wants to provide 3.5 million euros for the return journey of the stranded people in Belarus through UN organizations.
