The European Union Commissioner and Joe Biden are considering further measures against airlines bringing migrants to Belarus as a result of the regime's decision.
Thousands Gathered Along the Shared Borders
In a recently published article in MSN News, thousands of migrants have gathered around Belarus' shared borders with European Union members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, sparking accusations that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is attempting to destabilize the union.
Belarus' claim to target the EU with migrants, according to Von der Leyen, is a destabilization effort by an authoritarian state against democratic neighbors. Some have accused Lukashenko of driving migrants toward the EU in retribution for EU sanctions placed on Belarus after its assault on internal opposition during the controversial 2020 election.
Meanwhile, about 3,000-4,000 migrants are said to have collected along Poland's border with Belarus, with hundreds concentrating in one temporary camp near the Kuznica crossing. Warsaw has beefed up security along the border, declaring a state of emergency, according to a published article in Financial Times.
European Union is Discussing Possibility of Physical Infrastructure on Its Shared Borders
The EU is contemplating the notion of subsidizing "physical infrastructure" on its exterior borders, according to European Council President Charles Michel. According to the EU's executive commission, walls and barriers are ineffective, which has refused to build them using EU funds.
Additionally, security cameras and monitoring equipment would be covered, but not walls, fences, or other physical infrastructure. Several member nations are pressuring it to do so, with Poland and Lithuania already moving through with plans to construct high steel and razor wire barriers, according to a report published in Reuters.
The security on the Polish border has been beefed up, with around 15,000 troops, border guards, and police stationed there. The Polish Defense Ministry has called up reserves from its Territorial Defense Force to assist border guards and the military searching for migrants and assisting citizens whose lives have been disrupted by the restrictions in their region.
Belarusian Forces Accused of Firing Shots
Groups of migrants attempted to enter the nation late Tuesday and early Wednesday, according to the ministry and police, but those who made it in were arrested. It also accused Belarusian authorities of firing rounds into the air at a border crossing where migrants stuck between the two countries had established a camp.
Furthermore, thousands of migrants, including children, have been pushed back and forth in a woody region of wetlands and bogs as a result of the geopolitical stalemate. Eight fatalities have been reported, and the situation is becoming increasingly perilous as nighttime temperatures drop below freezing, as per DW reports.
Poland, which takes a tougher stance on refugees, has come under fire at home and abroad for driving many of them back into Belarus, where they are routinely abandoned in the woods. Lawmakers in Warsaw recently made it lawful to send migrants back to the country where they attempted to enter Poland without automatically granting them the right to seek asylum. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, Poland's actions are unlawful under international law.
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