European Commission President Ursula von Dlein met with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (November 10), while Council President Charles Michel was in Poland and said to the country that has suffered a mixed attack from Belarus. Full support”.
The European Union on Wednesday accused Belarus of launching a “mixed attack” that forced immigrants to cross the border into Poland, paving the way for expanded sanctions on Minsk, a crisis that may involve Russia and NATO.
Russia has rarely sent two strategic bombers with nuclear capabilities to patrol Belarusian airspace to show its support for its close allies. An alliance official said that Poland briefed NATO allies in a closed-door meeting, and they promised to provide support.
Warsaw stated that immigrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa trapped in Belarus tried to force their way into Poland overnight and announced that they had sent additional guards to strengthen the border.
The EU has repeatedly sanctioned Belarus for human rights violations, accusing Minsk of attracting immigrants from war-torn poor countries and then pushing them into Poland in an attempt to create violent chaos in the east wing of the EU.
“We are facing a brutal hybrid attack on the EU border. Belarus has put arms migrants into trouble in a cynical and shocking way,” Michelle said during a visit to Poland.
Sanctions are on the table. We must now coordinate with member states to determine the most effective tool.
We are ready #Belarus The regime and the people involved in the system.
The mixed attacks against the EU must stop. We must show our strong unity. @MorawieckiM pic.twitter.com/c9sRGBJro3
-Charles Michel (@eucopresident) November 10, 2021
The 27 EU ambassadors agreed that this constitutes the legal basis for further sanctions, which may be implemented as early as next week, targeting about 30 individuals and entities, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus and the national airline.
“The sanctions against Belarus will be expanded rapidly early next week,” Von der Lein told reporters after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington.
“We will study the possibility of sanctions against airlines that facilitate human trafficking in Minsk and the EU-Belarus border,” she added.
The White House stated that Biden and Von der Lein talked about the humanitarian situation at the border between the EU and Belarus and expressed deep concern about the “irregular migration flow”. In addition, US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken said: “The idea of Belarus weaponizing immigration is also deeply opposed.”
He said that Washington will continue to pressure Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, “as long as the regime refuses to comply with its international obligations or commitments, as long as it destroys peace and security in Europe through its actions, as long as it continues to suppress and bully people… …”
Lukashenko and Russian President Putin blamed the European Union.
The Kremlin accused Europe of failing to realize its humanitarian ideals and tried to “strangle” Belarus through a plan to close some borders. Moscow stated that the EU sanctions against Belarus due to the crisis are unacceptable.
Michel Bachelet, the head of the United Nations human rights affairs, called on countries to ease tensions and resolve the “intolerable” crisis.
She said: “Without adequate shelter, food, water and medical services, these hundreds of men, women and children cannot be forced to spend another night in cold weather.”
phosphorusPressure point
The crisis hit the European Union in a fragile region.
In 2015, more than 1 million people fled conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, causing serious rifts among member states, straining the social security system, and inciting support for far-right parties. The group was deeply shaken.
The EU looks more united this time, but there are signs of internal friction: some in Brussels warned Poland that it should not use EU funds to build border walls and barbed wire, while others believe that the EU needs help defending its borders. Michel said on Wednesday that the EU needs to make up its mind.
Compared to 2015, the current crisis has an additional geopolitical dimension, as it is unfolding on the dividing line between NATO in the west and Belarus, which is allied with Russia in the east.
The Tupolev Tu-22M3 bomber sent by Russia over Belarus can carry nuclear missiles, including hypersonic missiles designed to evade advanced Western air defense systems.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated that he hopes responsible Europeans “do not let themselves fall into a rather dangerous vortex.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that she urged Putin on the phone to use his influence on Lukashenko, “Because people (immigrants) are being used, it can be said that they have become victims of inhumane policies-they must be taken Some measures to solve this problem. “It”.
The Kremlin stated that Putin told Merkel that the EU should directly talk to Belarus.
SecondMigrant family
Thousands of people gathered at the border this week, temporary barbed wire fences and Polish soldiers repeatedly prevented them from entering. Some immigrants use logs, shovels and other tools to try to break through.
“It’s not a peaceful night. In fact, there are many attempts to break through the Polish border,” Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszak told broadcaster PR1.
Video of the border obtained by Reuters showed that among the people trapped there were young children and babies.
“There are many families here with two to four month old babies. They have not eaten anything in the past three days,” the person who provided the video told Reuters. They are immigrants and refused to reveal their identity.
Some migrants complained that they were repeatedly pushed by Polish and Belarusian border guards, putting them at risk of hypothermia and lack of food and water.
Syrian immigrant Youssef Atallah said he was worried that he would die after being trapped in the forest on the border for a few days because his nose was broken by a Belarusian soldier and he could not breathe after being broken.
Atallah finally arrived safely at an immigration center in Poland on Wednesday. He described almost giving up after the border was blocked in both directions.
“We told (Belarusian guards) that we wanted to return to Minsk and we did not want to continue this trip,” he told Reuters. “They told us that you will not return to Minsk. Just go to Poland.”
(Editing by Georgi Getoff)
