DISINFO: Poland does not respond to diplomatic initiatives of Belarus to solve the migration crisis
SUMMARY
Warsaw does not respond to the readiness of the official Minsk to talk about the conflict on the Polish-Belarusian border... The tension is growing day by day, so it is high time to look for solutions. Meanwhile, Poland carries out talks not with the real authorities but with the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Poland has not made any effective move to resolve this conflict on the international arena and on the diplomatic level. Poland should start real contacts on the diplomatic level and ask for the mediation of external parties such as Germany, France and the EU Commissionaires.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets about the migration situation on the EU-Belarus borders.
So far, the Belarusian authorities did not show any willingness to solve the current migration crisis by diplomatic tools. According to the words of Lukashenka, the “migrants are moving to the EU because Europe called them”, so Belarus is not planning to stop this process. Poland makes regular diplomatic appeals to the EU and international community to exert all necessary pressure on Belarus and Russia to stop the ongoing provocations on the border.
The Polish Government stays in contact with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as she is perceived as a legitimate representative of the Belarusian society (unlike Alexander Lukashenka, who has lost his political legitimacy).
Poland made several attempts to send humanitarian aid to the migrants stuck on the Belarusian side of the border, but the Belarusian authorities refused to accept this aid. According to the position of the Polish authorities, the ongoing situation on the Belarusian border is a hybrid attack on Poland in order to destabilise the country and the entire EU.
There is plenty of evidence that the Belarusian authorities have instigated the ongoing irregular migration flows to the EU borders via Belarus.
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated that the situation on the EU-Belarus border is "the attempt of an authoritarian regime to try to destabilise its democratic neighbours". Similarly, High Representative Borrell has highlighted that the Lukashenka regime is weaponising human beings as a tool for political purposes by giving migrants false expectations and putting them in a situation of extreme vulnerability.
On 15 November 2021, the EU broadened the scope for sanctions to tackle hybrid attacks and instrumentalisation of migrants. The EU will now be able to target individuals and entities organising or contributing to activities by the Lukashenka regime that facilitate the illegal crossing of the EU's external borders.
See related examples of disinformation claims about migration here.
See our earlier articles on the Belarus migration situation here and here.