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Poland sends 900 troops to border as thousands attempt to cross from Belarus
Katherine Berjikian
Europe;Poland

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Polish border patrol officers guarding a group of people after they attempted to cross the Belarus-Poland border. /Grzegorz Dabrowski/Agencja Gazeta/via Reuters

Polish border patrol officers guarding a group of people after they attempted to cross the Belarus-Poland border. /Grzegorz Dabrowski/Agencja Gazeta/via Reuters

 

Poland has sent more than 900 soldiers to its border with Belarus after thousands of people attempted to enter the country – a situation that Poland's prime minister called "blackmail" on Wednesday. 

"The Polish army is supporting the Border Guard in protecting the border with Belarus ... More than 900 troops are involved in this operation," Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Twitter. 

In August alone, 2,100 people attempted to cross into Poland from Belarus, a jump from the 122 migrants detained in all of 2020. Lithuania and Latvia, which also neighbour Belarus, have reported similar increases.

"It cannot be that [Belarus president Alexander] Lukashenko's blackmail forces us to accept anyone," Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.

 

 

The three countries and the EU have accused Belarus of encouraging the increase as retaliation for the sanctions the bloc imposed on Minsk. Lukashenko has said Belarus will no longer stop migrants from entering the bloc. 

The EU also accused Minsk of flying people from Iraq and then directing them towards its border. But the flights from Iraq to Belarus have since stopped after Brussels threatened to impose visa restrictions on Iraqi officials and citizens. 

"This aggressive behavior ... is unacceptable and amounts to a direct attack aimed at destabilizing and pressurizing the EU," an EU statement seen by Reuters said.

Another 4,100 asylum-seekers have attempted to cross into Lithuania from Belarus this year, 50 times the number of migrants who tried to do the same in 2020.

 

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A video released by the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service this week showed Belarus riot police pushing migrants across its border into Lithuania.  

Another video filmed by Belarus officials show people crossing into Lithuania and then returning to Belarus.

Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are no longer allowing migrants to cross their borders from Belarus, while Belarus is not letting people return – causing stand-offs between various border guards and people to remain stranded in-between countries.

"The Border Guard will not allow illegal immigrants to enter Poland," the country's Interior Minister Maciej Wasik said on Twitter.

The Polish news channel TVN24 has reported that authorities are giving food to the people stuck between Poland and Belarus.

Lithuania plans to construct a $585 million fence along its own border, but the EU has refused to fund the construction.

Source(s): Reuters ,AP ,AFP
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