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Poland managed to repel a mass assault on migrants who tried to cross from neighboring Belarus on Monday night, but said it was closing the Kuznica border checkpoint near the rally to prevent further attempts to invade.
Warsaw spread video clipsshowing hundreds of migrants walking to the Polish border, and some trying to break through the fence with shovels and other tools.
“They are throwing tree trunks on the fence to reduce its height and break it,” said Katarzyna Zdanovic, a spokeswoman for Polish border guards in the area.
Although authorities have managed to withstand the first wave of refugees, the conflict does not appear to be over. Hundreds of migrants remain near the wire fence at the border despite temperatures dropping below zero degrees overnight.
“We expect the attacks on our border to be resumed in the next few hours by groups of several hundred people,” Pavel Soloch, head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
In an earlier video shared by the Belarusian blogging service NEXTA, migrants carrying backpacks and wearing winter clothes were spotted walking along a highway. Other videos show large groups of migrants sitting by the roadside and escorted by armed men in camouflage.
Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said there were currently 3,000 to 4,000 migrants near the border, as well as more than 10,000 others in Belarus, ready to try to cross into Poland.
Warsaw said it had deployed additional troops, border guards and police. Neighboring Lithuania has said it could impose a state of emergency on its border with Belarus to transfer more troops to the security. Latvia said the situation was “alarming”.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter that the situation threatened the security of the entire EU and that the union would react unitedly to the danger.
New sanctions against Minsk
Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Vasik said the closure of one of the four border crossings with Belarus “could … be treated as a kind of economic sanction”. Vasik said there should be tougher EU sanctions against Minsk after tensions escalate along the border. Lithuania and Latvia have made similar calls.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is visiting the United States, called on member states to speed up the adoption of sanctions. European ambassadors to the EU are expected to discuss the restrictions proposed by the European Commission on Wednesday, and foreign ministers will approve them on Monday.
The new sanctions are likely to limit the activities of the Belarusian state airline Belavia in the EU, as well as the flights it operates jointly with European carriers. Belavia’s leases for aircraft from European companies will also be affected. The EU is also considering including in the sanctions third-country airlines that help transport migrants from the Middle East to Belarus. Among them are airlines from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The EU is also trying to contact the authorities of the countries that are the source of migrants – Iraq, Afghanistan, several African countries – to clarify Minsk’s motives for organizing charters with migrants and call on them to take measures to suspend flights. The commission’s vice-president, Margaritis Schinas, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will tour several capitals next week to hold personal talks with authorities there.
The European Union accuses Minsk of encouraging migrants from the Middle East and Africa to cross the EU through Belarus as a form of hybrid war in retaliation for Western sanctions against President Alexander Lukashenko’s government over the crackdown on anti-government protests in 2019 and the hijacking of passengers. Ryanair plane in May.
“Inhuman treatment”
The Lukashenko government has repeatedly denied creating a migrant crisis, blaming the West for the passage and treatment of migrants. The Belarusian State Border Committee confirmed on Monday that many refugees were moving to the Polish border, but said Warsaw was “inhumane” to them.
In response to reports from human rights organizations to repel migrants, the European Commission also called on Warsaw to treat migrants according to EU values and called on it to accept help from European experts on the registration of asylum seekers.
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So far, Poland has confirmed the deaths of seven migrants found dead on its side of the border, with more deaths reported in Belarus. Some of them died of frost in the forests along the border, where they are hiding.
Humanitarian groups have accused Poland of violating international asylum law by pushing migrants back to Belarus instead of accepting their applications for protection. Poland claims that its actions are legal.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Facebook: “The Polish border is not just a map line. The border is sacred – Polish blood has been shed for it!”
The US State Department said on Monday that it was concerned about disturbing images and reports from the border and called on the Belarussian government to immediately stop its campaign to organize and force illegal migration flows across its borders. The UN called the border scenes “deeply disturbing”.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday defended Minsk’s attitude to the problem of migrants, saying Belarus was taking all necessary measures to act legally.
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