Lukashenko ‘to send more migrants to EU’
Belarusian president is playing along with Russian attempt to destabilise our region, says Polish minister
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO is plotting to send more migrants to the European Union’s borders with Belarus in a fresh hybrid attack on the bloc, the Polish government warned yesterday.
Paweł Jabłonski, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, told The Sunday Telegraph that the border crisis was not over, despite the regime clearing camps and allowing repatriation flights to Iraq. The EU’s foreign affairs service has intensified dialogue with Mr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, who has also held talks with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
But Mr Jablonski warned: “He can’t be trusted. Absolutely not. Falling for promises or declarations would be a big mistake. He’s been promising a lot. He’s engineered this crisis, orchestrated it from the very beginning.”
The makeshift encampments seen over the past two weeks have been dismantled close to the border town of Kuznica. However, Polish intelligence has intercepted communications from Belarusian troops to suggest fresh attacks could be launched elsewhere across the frontier, according to Mr Jablonski.
“We have quite good intelligence as to where these attacks might be moved,” he said. “But we’re obviously under great duress because of this situation.”
Mr Lukashenko is accused of flying migrants in from the Middle East and assisting them to cross the border illegally into Poland in a bid to force the EU to drop sanctions imposed against his regime for human rights abuses.
Up to 4,000 migrants had been camped on the border since midNovember in sub-zero conditions. There have been hundreds of attempted crossings every night and violent skirmishes with Polish troops. About ten migrants are believed to have died.
Mr Jablonski said Warsaw is “very grateful” for the help of British troops who have been deployed to the border to help and warned that this should not be seen as a Polish problem.
“This is an issue that should be concerning for all Europeans,” Mr Jablonski said. “This is in fact a border between Europe, the EU and Nato.”
Mr Jablonski said the attacks are part of the escalating East-West crisis, which includes Russia amassing thousands of troops on its frontier with Ukraine.
“What is happening on our eastern border with Belarus is just one element. We also see Russia is concentrating troops on the Ukrainian border. We see growing pressure from Russia as well on Moldova.”
He added: “We are at a very big risk that stability in the region will further deteriorate because of aggressive actions and hybrid attacks orchestrated either directly by [Russian president] Vladimir Putin or by his allies.”
Mr Putin has accused the West of using the crisis to stoke tensions. “It is also impossible to ignore that Western countries are using the migration crisis on the Belarus-Poland border as a new reason for tension in a region close to us, for putting pressure on Minsk, while forgetting their own humanitarian commitments,” he said in a speech to the Russian foreign ministry.
“Just look how the Polish security forces are behaving at the border,” he said. “There are small children there and they are shooting water and tear gas at the crowd, throwing grenades.”
Yesterday, Polish border guards reported new attempted crossings by dozens of migrants. “Smaller groups of people are trying to cross the border in many places,” Mariusz Błaszczak, the defence minister, said.
“These attacks are directed by Belarusian services.”