DISINFO: Poland artificially escalates the situation on the Belarusian border
SUMMARY
The Polish functionaries continue to implement provocative actions [on the Belarusian border] and to spread false information [about the migration crisis]. Poland is trying to artificially escalate tensions and create the illusion of fighting with hybrid threats.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets about the migration situation on the EU-Belarus borders. The claim that Poland aggravates the situation on the border with Belarus in order to fight with Belarus and reach its domestic goals is ungrounded.
According to the position of the Polish authorities, the ongoing situation on the Belarusian border is a hybrid attack on Poland in order to destabilise the country and the entire EU.
The situation was caused by Belarus as a response to EU sanctions imposed on Minsk for its oppressive measures against the political opposition. There is plenty of evidence that the Belarusian authorities have instigated the ongoing irregular migration flows to the EU borders via Belarus.
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated that the situation on the EU-Belarus border is not a bilateral issue of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus but a hybrid attack against the whole EU. Similarly, the vice-president of the European Commission and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy (HRVP) Josep Borrell stressed that responsibility for the migration crisis falls on the Lukashenka regime.
See our earlier articles on the Belarus migration situation here and here.