Dispute with Belarus: EU accuses Lukashenko of provocation

The EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson has accused Belarus of using refugees for political purposes in the conflict with the EU. An estimated 700 refugees entered the EU country Lithuania via Belarus within a week. The government in Minsk uses “people to destabilize,” Johansson told the newspapers Funke media group. “The EU is working hard to end this: it is an unfriendly act by a neighboring country.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday threatened Europe with the massive passage of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. At the same time he announced that he would stop the transit of goods. In addition, he recently forced a Ryanair plane to land in the capital Minsk and had a blogger critical of the government arrested who was in the plane.

Because of the illegal border crossings, Lithuania wants to secure its almost 680 kilometers long border with Belarus with military and a “physical barrier”. The EU Commissioner called the situation manageable. “Europe’s external borders are common borders that we can and must tackle together,” said Johansson. Lithuania is already receiving assistance from the EU through the border protection agency Frontex and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). Capacities and resources in all Member States could be used to care for the refugees.

The EU does not recognize the result of the presidential election in Belarus in 2020, which is believed to be falsified, and has imposed sanctions on Minsk. The Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte accused the Belarusian authorities on Wednesday of being actively involved in organizing the large influx of migrants. “In our view, this aims, among other things, to harm our country, to destabilize the situation,” she said. “We see the entire process as a hybrid aggression that is not directed against Lithuania, but against the entire European Union.”