widthA video released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania on Tuesday shows that immigration has become a plaything of power politics. It can be seen that a dozen Belarusian security forces apparently pushed a group of migrants across the green border into Lithuania. The men put themselves behind people like a wall, and they wear a full set of protective equipment with helmets and shields, just like hooligans.
On the other hand, Lithuanian border guards are filming the scene and trying to block the way for strangers. They talked to her and moved forward; a young man, child, and woman who admitted to have a headscarf, there should be 35 people in total. An arrow is shown in the video to mark the state boundary. The Belarusian security forces are on the other side of this line, that is, already on Lithuanian territory.
This cannot be checked from the picture. There are no fortifications or visible markings at this point, only tall grass and wild shrubs—this is the case almost everywhere on the 680 km border between Lithuania and Belarus. For a long time, it seemed unnecessary. The two sides signed the Joint Border Security Treaty in 2009, and almost no violations were discovered by last summer.
However, when relations between Minsk and the European Union deteriorated rapidly after the fraudulent presidential election a year ago, cooperation was interrupted. When the European Union again strengthened its sanctions against the Alexander Lukashenko regime at the end of May, it publicly threatened to flood neighboring countries with immigration and drugs. This is how it happened: Lithuania has recorded 4,117 illegal border crossings this year, compared with 74 in the whole year last year.
So far, all asylum applications have been rejected
On Wednesday, the EU’s interior ministers dealt with the case in a video conference for the first time. To this end, the Vilnius government initiated the alliance’s rapid response mechanism. She asked partners to provide further support, including border protection, resettlement of migrants and repatriation of them. So far, Lithuania has rejected all 197 asylum applications processed. However, this small country does not have its own diplomatic representation in most countries of origin. So far, it has not asked EU partners to take over personnel.
However, Lithuanian diplomats pointed out that immigrants never want to stay in their country, but continue to work north and west. This is why this is not only about unity with members of the eastern border, but also about the interests of neighboring countries themselves. On Tuesday, German Chancellor Merkel said after meeting with the Estonian prime minister: “The mixed type of dispute used by Belarus is an attack on everyone in the EU, not just an attack on one country.”
Border Guard front Now 100 officers, 30 cars and two helicopters have been seconded to the Lithuanian border. In addition, under the diplomatic pressure of Baghdad, the European Commission has successfully blocked the Iraqi airline’s flight to Minsk since August 5. Most of those arrested in Lithuania came to Belarus in this way. In turn, the Vilnius government now requires immigrants to apply for asylum at the border crossing. As the Lithuanian government’s immigration commissioner and former foreign minister Linas Linkevicius confirmed on Tuesday, these measures will definitely have an impact. He said: “We now have a kind of rest time, but it is “not sustainable yet.”
National Tourism Company promotes visa-free entry
Because Lukashenko already has the next step. His regime is now advertising indirect flights to Minsk. That’s about Dubai and Istanbul; people from some African countries and Asia have entered the country in this way and are then taken to the Lithuanian border. Most of you should realize that this is the real goal of their travel. You paid a high price for this. Belarus sells packages that include flights, hotels and insurance. Anyone who enters the country must also deposit 3,000 euros; the traveler can only recover the money when returning from the same route. The transaction is hidden in two ways.
On the one hand, the national tourism group “Centrkurort” issues tourist visas through the Iraqi company network. On the other hand, since the beginning of July, people from 73 countries have been allowed to travel to Belarus without a visa for a five-day coronavirus vaccination. When people are in the country, they are smuggled to the border and escorted by border officials. The immigrants who were subsequently interrogated in Lithuania said their passports were torn by the Belarusians and threatened to arrest them.
As the Lithuanian border is now better protected, Minsk is increasingly turning to the neighboring countries of Poland and Latvia. According to the Polish Ministry of Interior, in that month alone, people tried to cross the border illegally. The border guard stopped 1,175 migrants, and another 760 were detained and placed in closed shelters.
