DISINFO: The EU supported oppositional plotters, so Lukashenka stopped protecting the European border
SUMMARY
Does the KGB kidnap people from Iraq or Afghanistan and bring them to the border by force? Or maybe it pays for their transport and accommodation, and then these people are sent on a “mission” to cross the border with Poland?
The truth is very simple, but it is difficult to accept. After the introduction of the EU sanctions on Belarus, President Lukashenka publicly announced the “désintéressement” in the protection of the EU border by Belarusian border services. During recent years, the Belarusian authorities, in consultation with partners in the West, tried to control this route, preventing the movement of potential migrants to the EU. After the EU did everything possible to support the oppositional plotters, Lukashenka stated that he would not help Europe anymore. Why would he help it at all? Moreover, the May sanctions against Belarusian aviation forced Belavia to look for new markets, so it turned out that the immigrants wanted to use these new routes.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative about the ongoing migration crisis on the eastern border of the EU directly inspired by the Belarusian authorities.
There is numerous evidence that the Belarusian authorities have taken a direct part in the organisation of the ongoing “migration crisis” in Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. Lukashenka’s regime is using refugees from Middle Eastern countries as a “political and hybrid” weapon against Lithuania and the whole EU. Read more about the direct participation of the Belarusian security services in the “migration crisis” here.
In 2021, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia faced an influx of irregular migrants from Belarus (most are citizens of third countries: Iraq, Syria, African countries etc.). Earlier, Belarus ended cooperation with the EU to stem irregular migration. This was Minsk’s answer to the European Union sanctions on the political regime of Belarus (read more about sanctions here).
It is known that some of the migrants arrive in Belarus on commercial flights from Baghdad to Minsk. Information also suggests that migrants are regularly transported by bus to the Belarusian-Lithuanian border. Such traffic cannot take place in Belarus without the agreement of the Belarus authorities. Read more details about Lukashenka’s role in the organisation of the current migration crisis here and here. See other disinformation cases concerning the ongoing migration crisis on the Belarusian border: Lithuanian border guards use violence against migrants, including abandoning pregnant women; Migrants in Lithuania are kept in concentration camps in unsanitary conditions and the West plans to push thousands of illegal migrants to Belarus using force.