Tensions in the border area of Poland and Belarus are escalating seriously as thousands of people are trapped in this area, as well as `choked` at the center of a tense geopolitical dispute.
Polish army and police monitor migrants at the Poland-Belarus border.
From August 1 until now, Polish border guards have recorded more than 30,000 cases of migrants trying to illegally cross the border into the country.
Unprecedented tension
The migration crisis at the Poland – Belarus border has been tense since early November when Poland recorded more than 4,500 people attempting to cross the border.
According to CNN, the Kuznica border gate has been closed since November 9, causing the flow of migrants to stagnate and create refugee camps in the border area between Poland and Belarus.
Those crossing the border from Belarus to Poland are said to be trying to escape unrest in their home country.
Humanitarian organizations say migrants face harsh living conditions trying to cross the border from Belarus in cold weather and lack of food and medical care.
So far, poor living conditions have left at least 10 migrants dead, including seven on the Polish side of the border.
Panic-stricken in the bitter cold, hundreds of migrants gathered around campfires on the border between the two countries as Poland worked to reinforce barbed wire fences and increase the deployment of border guards to stop them.
Polish authorities are also preparing to respond to the risk of clashes after some migrants used wood, spades and other tools to try to get over the fences.
Determining that the wave of illegal migrants is flooding into Poland at an unprecedented level and threatening the security of the entire EU, the government of this country declared a state of emergency and mobilized about 12,000 police and military officers to assist.
The migrant crisis is not only taking place on the Polish border but also on the borders of Belarus’s neighboring countries, including Lithuania and Latvia.
The underlying cause
AP news agency said that the main cause of the new migration crisis in the Poland-Belarus border area comes from Minsk itself.
In the context of the opposition continuously rejecting the results and accusing the election of fraud, and the West exerting pressure to call for a re-run of the election, the Belarusian authorities have had to spend a lot of effort to confront the opponents.
Not stopping there, last May, flight FR4978 of Ryanair airline, departing from Athens (Greece) to the capital Vilnius (Lithuania), when flying into Belarusian airspace, 10km from the Lithuanian border, was forced to
When the plane landed, Belarusian security officers arrested journalist Raman Pratasevich, who runs Nexta Live – an information channel based on the Telegram messaging app that helped organize large protests against President Lukashenko.
The EU strongly opposed this move, and imposed new sanctions on key sectors of the Belarusian economy, including fertilizer, tobacco, oil, petrochemicals and the financial sector.
Meanwhile, President Lukashenko responded by announcing the suspension of the agreement to prevent the flow of illegal migrants with the EU, on the grounds that sanctions had deprived Minsk of the funds necessary to do this.
On November 15, the EU imposed new sanctions on a number of senior Belarusian officials, airlines and travel companies believed to have helped bring migrants to Minsk.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell affirmed: `Today’s decision reflects the EU’s determination to fight against the use of migrants for political purposes. We are pushing back against illegal behavior.`
Arguing and retaliation
Therefore, a series of Western countries and organizations such as the EU, the US, and NATO all believe that Belarus is using migrants to create political pressure, in retaliation for EU sanctions.
Meanwhile, the Prime Ministers of Poland, Latvia and Lithuania accused the President of Belarus of causing the migration crisis, forcing Poland to pass a bill in October to build a border wall with Belarus worth about 410 million.
Europe is really going through a harsh winter.
In contrast, the President of Belarus has repeatedly rejected the EU’s accusations and said that the EU is the party causing the migration crisis and even treats refugees poorly.
Minsk also believes that Warsaw is deliberately escalating tensions because foreigners near the border with Poland want to apply for asylum in the EU, including women and children, and do not threaten the security of the EU.
This crisis also makes the already bad relations between Belarus and Poland increasingly worse.
At the end of October, Poland accused Belarusian border guards of trespassing and advancing hundreds of meters into Polish territory at night.
On November 15, Belta News Agency quoted Mr. Lukashenko as saying that Minsk was trying to persuade migrants living in temporary camps near its western border with Poland to return home.
In the context of tensions between Belarus and EU countries still unable to improve, the situation of this migration crisis is also unlikely to have positive changes.
If the parties cannot find a way to resolve the problem before winter comes, the situation of migrants stuck in the Belarus-Poland border area will be very bad.
For a long time, the issue of migrants has become an obstacle causing division and disagreement between EU member states and the `old continent` has many times experienced even more serious refugee crises.
Combined with the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and energy shortages, Europe is truly experiencing a harsh winter.
