Migration researchers see Vladimir Putin in front of a new plan: Russia may want to guide refugees to Kaliningrad - and further west.
Vienna – The airport of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is expected to attract more flights in the future – from North Africa and the Middle East.
The state agency interfax reported some time ago that the airport wanted to attract airlines from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) has now warned Western Europe about this plan.
The migration researchers fear that Vladimir Putin wants to put pressure on the West in the Ukraine war.
Because it seems unlikely to the experts that people from North Africa or the Middle East head for Kaliningrad solely for vacation.
The Kremlin boss wants to "use migrants as a weapon," quotes
Euronews
in advance of the report, which will be published on January 23.
"This is likely to result in an increase in the number of migrants trying to reach the EU by a route other than the usual Mediterranean route," the experts write.
The ICMPD is an international organization for migration research headquartered in Vienna.
Kaliningrad: Migration as a weapon in the Ukraine war?
Poland has already announced fence construction
Kaliningrad borders Poland and Lithuania.
Last fall, Poland's government responded to fears that Russia could organize an influx of migrants.
She announced the construction of a fence to prevent illegal border crossings.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak justified the step with national security.
On the other hand, migrants from North Africa or the Middle East would come to Kaliningrad by plane and try to get to EU territory from there.
In September 2021, Poland erected a five-metre-high steel wall along its border with Belarus.
Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed or attempted to cross the border from Belarus into Poland since 2021.
Images of people in need in no man's land at the border had aroused concern but also pity.
The West believes the influx was controlled from Minsk to destabilize the region.
Belarus, under its pro-Kremlin ruler Alexander Lukashenko, denies this. However, the so-called pushbacks and the generally tough anti-migration stance of the Polish government have been condemned by activists and aid organizations.
Putin in the Ukraine war: Migration as a "weapon" - "Successful in three out of four cases"
In October, the US political scientist Kelly Greenhill confirmed to the ARD “Tagesschau” that migration can be an effective means of pressure: “If it is used, then it is successful in three out of four cases.
And those who use it seem to get more or less what they want.
In fact, half the time they get exactly what they wanted to force.”
For Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Putin's plan is crystal clear.
Russia is "always creating artificial crises" in order to get its way, he said, according to the "Tagesschau" with a view to the migration movements in 2022. The current military situation in the Ukraine war could also be interpreted in this way: the Russian military is taking massive action civilian targets such as energy infrastructure or residential buildings.
Life in Ukraine is becoming increasingly chaotic and stressful.
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
