The European Commission on Tuesday (November 9) accused Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko of “inhumane and gang-style” to lure immigrants with false promises of easy entry into the European Union.
Peter Stano, the EU’s chief foreign affairs spokesman, told reporters in Brussels: “They were pushed to the border upon arrival and forced to enter the EU illegally.”
Approximately 2,000 migrants have camped near the border between Belarus and Poland. The temperature is cold at night, and the Polish authorities are preparing for further clashes with those trying to break through the border.
Stano confirmed that the European Commission is monitoring flights to Belarus from more than two dozen countries to prevent the Minsk government from encouraging more migrants to the EU border.
Stano told reporters: “We are studying the frequency of flights, and we are studying the patterns of flights-how many flights take off, how many flights return, and what is the occupancy of the aircraft.”
This will include air travel from Morocco, Syria, Iran, Qatar, South Africa, Somalia, India, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Russia, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Yemen.
Afghanistan has not received too close attention on outbound flights because it is not among the countries that have direct flights to Minsk.
Comment from Multiple media According to the report, Belarus is preparing to process approximately 40 weekly flights from Istanbul, Damascus and Dubai by March.
The EU is currently seeking to expand sanctions and include “third-country airlines” involved in transporting migrants to Belarus. This may happen when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels next week.
This will mainly target Belavia, the national airline of Belarus.
Lithuania also proposed the idea of including the Belarusian airport and its personnel in the next plan.
When asked about the possible involvement of Russia in the crisis, Stano replied that the European Commission is monitoring the situation in the country “very closely.” “This is on our radar. We will evaluate the information and data we have based on the flight situation and Russia’s possible involvement in this matter,” he pointed out.
Partial visa suspension
On Tuesday, EU countries also partially suspended visa facilitation agreements for Belarusian officials in response to Minsk’s actions.
“This decision is a response to the continued mixed attacks launched by the Belarusian regime,” the European Council, which represents EU member states, said in a statement.
However, it pointed out that this move will affect Belarusian officials, rather than complicate the existing visa procedures for ordinary citizens.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
