EU To Toughen Visa Requirements For Belarusian Officials Over Election Fraud, Migrants
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson: "This is an act of aggression." (file photo)
The European Union says it will tighten the rules for issuing visas to Belarusian state officials in retaliation for Minsk using migrants to destabilize the 27-member bloc.
The EU has accused Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka of orchestrating a sharp rise in migrant arrivals across Belarus's border with bloc members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia in response to Brussels imposing sanctions on Minsk over a brutal crackdown on dissent following last year's presidential election, which is widely considered to have been rigged.
The European Commission -- the bloc's executive body -- said on September 29 that it wants member countries to consider suspending parts of a “visa-facilitation agreement” with Belarus that came into force in July 2020 and was meant to bring the former Soviet republic closer to Europe.
Standoff On Belarus-Poland Border As Stance Hardens Toward ‘Weaponized’ Migrants
1/10A migrant on the border with Belarus on August 23. The man is part of a group of migrants claiming to be from Afghanistan caught in a bizarre standoff between Polish and Belarusian border guards.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
2/10The group of migrants, photographed between an armed Polish serviceman (in foreground) and Belarusian police. The standoff comes amid a surge in mostly Middle Eastern migrants entering the EU illegally from Belarus. European authorities accuse Minsk of deliberately engineering the crisis as a reaction to sanctions imposed by the EU since Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka's crackdown began following a disputed election one year ago.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
3/10Polish border police face off against their Belarusian counterparts (right), with the migrants stranded in the middle. The group has reportedly been stranded in the open near the Polish village of Usnarz Gorny for two weeks. Temperatures in the area have dropped to around 10 degrees Celsius on recent mornings.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
4/10Migrants gather near a fence at a temporary detention center in Kazitiskis, Lithuania, on August 12.
The stalemate on the Poland-Belarus border follows Lithuania's decision in early August to physically force migrants back into Belarus after more than 4,000 illegally entered that Baltic country from Belarus in the space of a few months in 2021.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
5/10A stranded migrant seen behind Polish servicemen.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced on August 23 that Poland would be erecting a fence along the border with Belarus and that troop numbers stationed to deal with the border influx would be doubled to 2,000.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
6/10The stranded migrants photographed on August 20.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told reporters that the group near Usnarz Gorny "are not refugees, they are economic migrants brought in by the Belarusian government.”
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
7/10Poland’s border authorities say they apprehended the migrant group before they reached Polish territory. The Polish human rights ombudsman said the Border Guard had violated the Geneva Conventions by not accepting verbal declarations from some of the migrants that they wanted to apply for international protection in Poland.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
8/10Activists on August 23 behind coils of barbed wire at the headquarters of Poland's Border Guards to protest the stance taken by the authorities.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
9/10The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, has urged Poland to take in the stranded migrants, saying, “While we acknowledge the challenges posed by recent arrivals to Poland, we call on the Polish authorities to provide access to territory, immediate medical assistance, legal advice, and psychosocial support to these people.”
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
10/10Polish and Belarusian border markers divided by rolls of razor wire.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says accepting migrants entering from Belarus would be bowing to “blackmail” from Minsk. On August 24, Morawiecki told reporters that the stranded migrants are on Belarusian territory, adding that “If someone on the Belarusian side wants to apply for refugee status, please do so in Minsk.”
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
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The measure, aimed at Belarusian officials including members of government, lawmakers, diplomatic delegations, and top court representatives, would increase travel bureaucracy by requiring extra documentation and would increase visa prices. It would not affect ordinary Belarusians.
Poland and Lithuania have been forced to cope with an unusually high number of migrants, primarily from Iraq and Afghanistan, arriving at their borders with Belarus. Warsaw has declared a state of emergency over the situation and aims to soon extend it for another 60 days.
Lukashenka has blamed the West for what he said was a looming humanitarian catastrophe this winter at the Belarusian-Polish border.
"We have an aggressive regime, Lukashenka, that is actually pushing migrants...to the European border to destabilize the European Union," the bloc's Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told journalists on September 29. "This is an act of aggression."
The migrant influx began a year ago, after Brussels imposed sanctions on Lukashenka’s government over the August 2020 presidential election, which the international community views as rigged, and the harsh crackdown on the opposition and peaceful protesters that followed.
"What we are seeing now is a desperate Lukashenka," Johansson said. "This is a regime that has denied its own people free and fair elections. This is a regime that is putting political opposition in jail."
The visa move must be endorsed by the 27 EU member countries to enter force.
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