Refugee dispute with Belarus
“What if we interrupt the gas supplies?”: Lukashenko threatens the West
Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, is threatening Europe with stopping gas supplies
© DPA
Europe and the USA accuse Belarus of deliberately smuggling migrants to the borders of the EU countries Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. President Lukashenko reacts to possible new sanctions with a threat.
The US and several European countries have condemned the government’s actions in Minsk with a view to the refugee crisis on the border between Belarus and the EU. In a joint statement, they accused Belarus of “orchestrating people being instrumentalized” at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday. The aim of the ruler Alexander Lukashenko’s action is to “destabilize the external border of the European Union”.
Belarus also aims to “destabilize neighboring countries” and “divert attention from its own growing human rights violations,” said the joint statement by the US, France, Estonia, Ireland, the UK and Norway. Lukashenko’s strategy is “unacceptable” and must result in a “strong international reaction”.
The emergency meeting called by Estonia, France and Ireland lasted a little over half an hour. The declaration made no mention of Russia, which has supported Belarus since the beginning of the crisis. Before the meeting, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Dmitri Polyansky, had denied allegations made by the West and assured that Moscow was not involved in sending migrants to the border with Poland.
EU raises allegations against Lukashenko
The EU accuses Lukashenko of deliberately smuggling migrants to the borders of the EU states Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in retaliation for sanctions. In the Belarusian-Polish border area, thousands of people, especially from the Middle East, are currently stuck in freezing temperatures.
“It is a very nasty political method that must be stopped in any case,” said Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Friday editions) with a view to the actions of the Belarusian government. “We call this a hybrid threat, where people are used to destabilize the EU and especially Germany – this must not prevail in the world.” Seehofer called on Poland to help secure the EU’s external border. “All EU states must stand together here.”
Sanctions after the crackdown on demos
Brussels imposed a series of punitive measures following the violent repression by Belarusian security forces against demonstrators critical of the government following the controversial re-election of Lukashenko in 2020. A tightening of the existing sanctions is currently being prepared. They are supposed to be directed against around 30 airlines, travel agencies or other responsible persons who support Belarus in smuggling refugees.
Lukashenko openly threatened to cut the gas supply in response to the announced punitive measures. “If they impose new sanctions on us, we have to react,” warned Lukashenko, according to the state news agency Belta. “We are warming Europe and they threaten us,” he said, referring to the Yamal-Europe pipeline that runs through Belarus and brings Russian gas to Europe. “What if we cut off gas supplies?”
Belarus gas pipeline
According to Gazprom, 575 kilometers of the Yamal gas pipeline run through Belarus. The Russian energy company claims to be the sole owner of the Belarusian section of the gas pipeline.
The opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya, who lives in exile, regards Lukashenko’s threats as a “bluff”. Such a step would be “more damaging” for Belarus than for the European Union, Tichanovskaya told the AFP news agency in Berlin. There is also “a Russian interest in this case”.
“The only leverage the EU has”
Tichanovskaya urged the EU states not to give in in the dispute with Belarus and not to negotiate directly with the “illegitimate” ruler in Minsk. She stressed that sanctions are “possibly the only leverage the EU has to change Lukashenko’s behavior”.
In his second telephone conversation with Chancellor Merkel within two days, according to the Kremlin, Russian President Putin had “spoken out in favor of resuming contacts between the EU states and Belarus in order to solve this problem”. Merkel said she had called on Putin on Wednesday to act on Lukashenko.
At the conversation between the two politicians on Thursday, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin that the “current situation on the Belarusian-Polish border” was “brought about by the Belarusian regime which instrumentalized defenseless people in a hybrid attack against the European Union”.