Uses water cannons and tear gas against migrants at the border – VG

– We are deeply concerned about how Lukashenko uses vulnerable migrants in the fight against other regimes. This puts migrants at risk. It is a way to use people in tactics against other countries, said Jens Stoltenberg in a meeting with the press on Tuesday afternoon.

– We follow the situation closely. It is important to send a signal to Belarus that this is unacceptable.

According to the news agency AFP, the use of the water cannon was triggered by the migrants throwing stones at the security service.

The Polish Ministry of Defense also states that they have fired tear gas at the migrants, writes AFP.

Thousands of migrants from countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen are in this border area after being lured to Belarus by fake “package tours” to the EU and the dream of a better life.

The EU has responded with harsh sanctions, while Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko says the crisis that has arisen is not in the country’s interest and that they are working to return the migrants.

Sharpens

What the refugees got instead of a better life was a forest area without good access to heat, food and drink, and security forces on both sides of the border that ensure that in practice they can not go anywhere.

At least ten people are said to have lost their lives.

The migrants now risk being sent back to an uncertain fate in the home country.

According to AFP, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that the use of tear gas and water cannons by Polish forces to stop migrants entering Belarus is “completely unacceptable.”

Polish police claim that one policeman was taken to hospital with injuries after being hit by an object that was thrown. He probably had a skull fracture, according to Polish police.

Earlier on Tuesday, Poland’s ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said no armed conflict was expected at the moment.

– We have a hybrid war, but an actual war, with weapons, is not on our horizon. “We are facing an unpredictable enemy,” Kaczynski told Polish public radio on Tuesday Reuters.

Iraq will send evacuation planes

Meanwhile, Iraq has planned an evacuation flight from Minsk on Thursday. So far, around 150 to 200 Iraqis have already registered in Minsk to fly home. Other Iraqis at the border have struggled to register.

“We are working on this with the Belarusian authorities,” said Iraqi Consul for Russia and Belarus Majid al-Kinani.

“The number fluctuates because people are stuck on the Belarusian border with Poland or Lithuania and so far they have not been allowed to return to Minsk by the Belarusian authorities,” the consul said.

Symbol-heavy first journey

On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet with EU defense ministers to discuss the situation. It was before this meeting that he spoke to the media about the situation on the border between Poland and Belarus.

At the beginning of October, he made a symbolically important first trip as Secretary General of NATO to the east, and visited the Polish capital, among other places.

The theme was then The Ukraine crisis that has created fear in Russia’s neighborhood. NATO has implemented several calming measures against the eastern flank.

– We are sending a clear message to Russia

Before today’s EU meeting, Stoltenberg emphasized that NATO supports Ukraine and Georgia in the tense situation:

– We have close contact with the Ukrainian government and we work closely with them. We follow the situation in the region. As a direct consequence of the military use of Russia against Ukraine, NATO has increased its presence. We have forces in the Baltics, ships in the Black Sea and we send a clear message to Russia that we support our allies, Stoltenberg said.

He emphasizes that he looks forward to meeting the foreign ministers of both countries.

– It is a way to strengthen the Black Sea region. Both of these countries are of great importance to NATO and something we value highly, Stoltenberg emphasized.

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