A sort ofIn view of the dramatic increase in the number of immigrants on the EU’s external border between Lithuania and Belarus, the presidency of the European Council of Slovenia will organize a special meeting of interior ministers on August 18.This I A spokesperson said on Friday that it faces serious security threats and has witnessed how Belarus uses illegal immigrants as weapons. The goal now is to raise awareness of the situation and take coordinated measures for border security.
In addition to the interior ministers of EU countries, representatives of EU border protection agencies should also front And Europol, the European Police Agency, participated in the conference organized by the video conference.
EU accuses Lukashenko
On the nearly 680-kilometer-long border between Lithuania and Belarus, more than 2,000 illegal border crossings by people from Iraq or African countries were registered last year, compared to only 81 in the entire year last year.
According to the European Union, the increase in numbers was deliberately caused by neighboring governments. In the past, the ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has publicly threatened to allow people from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria to pass in response to the sanctions imposed by the European Union on his country.
In Germany, there are also people who are now worried about developments-mainly because they fear that many people who arrive in Lithuania may try to move west.
Due to the conflict, Iraq temporarily suspended flights to Belarus. The Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced the news. Hussein said that measures have been taken to “protect Iraqi citizens who have become victims of smuggling gangs.” One of the measures is the “temporary” suspension of direct flights between Baghdad and Minsk. The statement was issued after Hussein called Jose Puborel, the EU foreign affairs representative, and the foreign ministers of Lithuania and Latvia.
A spokesman for Iraqi Airlines Iraqi Airways stated that the Baghdad Ministry of Transportation has ordered the airline to suspend flights to Belarus for “one week.”
Tensions between the European Union and Belarus have increased recently. The European Union responded with punitive measures to the suppression of civil society and democratic opposition in the former Soviet Republic. This also includes the illegal arrest of Roman Protassewitsch, a blogger critical of the government from the perspective of the European Union. The Belarusian authorities forced a passenger plane from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania to stop in Minsk to catch the young man.
