Belarus ‘using migrants as a weapon’ in Poland spat

‘They are young men and women’

BELARUS has been accused of using migrants as ‘living weapons’ by sending them to Poland as revenge for it giving refuge to an Olympic sprinter.

Poland said a growing number of migrants had come over the border since its decision to grant refuge to Krystsina Tsimanouskaya. Miss Tsimanouskaya, 24, refused to return to her native Belarus from Tokyo as she feared for her safety.

Maciej Wasik, Poland’s deputy interior minister, said Belarus was ‘waging a hybrid war with the European Union with the help of illegal immigrants’.

Referring to the migrants, he added: ‘There are both young men and women with children. Belarus is using these immigrants as a living weapon.’

Miss Tsimanouskaya’s Cold War-style defection has ratcheted up Western tensions with Belarus. The EU has also accused Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko of using migrants to hit back against its sanctions.

In recent weeks, neighbour and fellow EU member state Lithuania has reported a surge in illegal border crossings from Belarus, saying the Belarusian government was flying in people from abroad and dispatching them into the EU. It is believed to be a retaliation for EU sanctions meted out after Belarus forced a Ryanair flight to land on its soil and arrested a dissident blogger on board.

Mr Lukashenko at the time said Belarus would not become a ‘holding site’ for immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, adding: ‘We stopped drugs and migrants. Now you will eat them and catch them yourselves.’

Some 4,000 asylum seekers have entered Lithuania so far this year, compared to just 81 in 2020. Authorities in Vilnius, Lithuania, estimate that figure could climb to 10,000 by the end of the summer.

Iraq yesterday cancelled a flight from Basra to Minsk that opponents said carried migrants Mr Lukashenko planned to send to Europe.

Mr Wasik said migrants arriving recently in Poland had mainly been from Iraq but also from Afghanistan.