DISINFO: Poland needs to restore balance in relations with Belarus to solve migration crisis
SUMMARY
The only reasonable proposal [to solve the migration crisis] is to try to take preventive measures that would completely eliminate this unpleasant picture of people wandering on the Polish-Belarusian border. This cannot be done without restoring the balance in relations with Minsk.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets about the migration situation on the EU-Belarus borders.
The claim that Poland does not want to solve the migration crisis on the border with Belarus through diplomatic tools is ungrounded. The Polish Government stays in contact with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as she is perceived as a legitimate representative of the Belarusian society (unlike Alexander Lukashenka, who has lost all the political legitimacy).
The developments on the border, bringing irregular migrants and forcing them to try forceful entry into EU, were 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 president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that situation on the EU-Belarusian border is not a bilateral issue of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus but a hybrid attack against the whole EU. 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.