The offer almost sounds too good to be true. If you want to legally enter the EU as a refugee, all you have to do is get on a plane and fly to Russia or Belarus. From there we continue west and the further journey is taken care of.
The stories that so-called ‘travel agencies’ in Syria or Afghanistan use to advertise on television and place ads on social media go something like this. It sounds like a promise of a new life in the West, for those who can pay. And the advertising is successful: people have been coming to Europe, including Germany, for a while. What is also insidious is that the rulers, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, are deeply involved.
The so-called Belarus route is coming into focus again in the light of the migration debate. The border guards in this country are once again registering more people entering Germany illegally via Belarus and then Poland. There are a number of other routes, such as the Balkan Route, which itself has many branches. But visas or stamps in the passports of refugees who reach Germany show that Belarus is again being used more as a transit country.
Hub for asylum seekers
Between January and July 2023 alone, a total of 15,000 people came to Germany via Poland, Deutschlandfunk reports, based on federal police figures. That is two and a half times as many as in the comparable period of 2022. Two-thirds of these refugees entered via Belarus. The people often come from Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan and apparently fly directly to Minsk or Moscow and travel on from there.
Research by the Russian Dossier Center and Spiegel showed as early as 2021 that the state travel organization Centr Kurort collaborated with the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, obtained tourist visas for Iraqis, and then an airline from Baghdad started flights to Minsk. The research site reform.by has identified relevant flights. As a result, Poland became something of a hub for asylum seekers.
Berlin-based Eastern European researcher Boris Ginzburg sees this as a calculation by the regimes in Moscow and Minsk. Similar to 2021, when Belarus lured people into the country with significant entry restrictions and then had them transported to the Polish border, just to force Poland to respond to political demands. After the fraudulent elections in Belarus in 2020 and the mass protests in the country, political relations with the West had noticeably cooled.
At first glance, the escape route via Eastern Europe seems safer for many people than the route by boat across the Mediterranean, says researcher Ginzburg. But the smugglers did not tell people that it was neither legal nor easy to cross from Belarus to the EU.
He explains that they would have representative offices with relevant contacts in the respective third countries, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The escape is organized there as an “all-round package”. For a payment of several thousand – sometimes up to 20,000 – American dollars, people with a visa fly to Russia or Belarus and are initially accommodated in hotels.
Go west with the bolt cutters
“They then receive instructions and sometimes special equipment to find their way to the EU,” says Ginzburg. Bolt cutters as access equipment for the West.
Belarus expert at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Jakob Wöllenstein, is also convinced that dictator Lukashenko not only tolerates this, but also encourages it. Lukashenko waves back and forth, first provocative and then soothing. In the summer, the number of asylum seekers shot up, according to Wöllenstein. “In September, Lukashenko rhetorically de-escalated towards Poland and shortly afterwards migration numbers at the Polish border dropped significantly. This is no coincidence. Lukashenko consciously controls this.”
The refugees, says Wöllenstein, are actively helped by government agencies at the borders to find the weak points. “Of course the secret services are involved; they help you get to this border area where you are otherwise not allowed to stay at all. People then camp in these no-go areas.” And the situation becomes more aggressive. The Polish border guards were attacked and stones were thrown at them.
It has already been shown in the past that this is extremely dangerous. Especially in 2021, Belarus has forcibly pushed a number of people across the border into Poland and Lithuania. There people were left to fend for themselves without water, food or medical care.
These are crimes against humanity, Belarusian human rights activist Svetlana Tichanovskaya wrote in a press release in September. She describes torture by Belarusian border guards. Anyone attempting to return to Belarus will be forcibly stopped – a cruel dilemma for the refugees. You can read a report on the situation at the border here.
“Hybrid weapon”
Tichanowskaya speaks of an ‘artificially created migration crisis’, while researcher Ginzburg says Lukashenko is using migration as a ‘hybrid weapon’. “Lukashenko is a cruel ruler, but unfortunately, to put it cynically, also a creative ruler,” he says.
The overall goal, according to the researcher, is to sow division in the West and destabilize the EU. The desperate and angry people at the border are asking Poland and the alliance: how should we deal with the asylum seekers who are actually entering the country illegally? “The Minsk regime uses the people’s misery for political purposes,” says expert Wöllenstein.
In addition, there is currently an election campaign in Poland; on October 15, the Poles will elect a new parliament. If Belarus pushes more and more people into the country, it will worsen the already emotional dispute over this sensitive issue. The divisions in the political landscape are becoming deeper and deeper.
Russia also has an interest in this and also participates by issuing simplified entry visas to people from Syria or Afghanistan. Moscow is also likely to rely on the refugee debate, on causing discontent and rejection of refugees among the Western population.
Because – as the example of Germany shows: In addition to people from the Middle East and Africa, more than a million people from Ukraine alone fled to the Federal Republic last year as a result of the war of aggression. This inevitably leads to discussions about the correct handling of people seeking protection, appropriate housing, financial support – and ultimately to uncertainty among the population.
“Moscow aims to reduce solidarity and support for Ukraine,” says expert Wöllenstein. As a result, the willingness to supply Ukraine with weapons could decrease – and this could influence the course of the war in Russia’s favor.
Moreover, according to researcher Ginzburg, fueling a migration crisis could be interpreted as revenge for the EU and US sanctions, which, despite all solutions, are causing “headaches” to the autocrats.
Smugglers are very mobile
He also explains that the numbers have recently risen again, saying that the media speeches in the refugee countries had an impact and that there is still a pyramid scheme at work through social media: people who successfully reached Europe shared it with their smartphones Internet platforms would see people at home and their intention to flee would be confirmed.
It is striking that the smugglers are extremely mobile. There was a sharp increase in the number of refugees at the Belarusian-Polish border during the summer, especially in August, Wöllenstein says. This changed in September: Poland announced 10,000 soldiers to reinforce the border, mainly in response to the Wagner soldiers brought to Minsk by Lukashenko after the June 24 uprising. “They’re probably not all there yet, but there are about 5,000 to 2,000 supporting the border patrol,” Wollenstein said.
Border protection in the swamp area
“As a result, migration pressure was visibly redirected,” he says. Namely to Latvia, where the borders are less fortified. In a very short time, the number of refugees arriving there has increased by three.
The forced migration is causing tensions throughout the region. Lithuania, for example, reports that Wöllenstein, who works from Vilnius, has responded and strengthened border protection over hundreds of kilometers and even in swampy areas with newly built facilities. Latvia has ordered border guards from neighboring Lithuania.
There are concerns not only about asylum seekers, but also about Wagner mercenaries stationed in Belarus. It is feared that they could mingle with the migrants and enter NATO territory in disguise.
Used sources:
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
