Conflict with Belarus: Merkel asks Russia to mediate

Chancellor Merkel phoned Russian President Putin about the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border. She asked him to influence the Lukashenko government. The instrumentalization of migrants is unacceptable.

Acting Chancellor Angela Merkel has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to influence the authoritarian government in Minsk in view of the dramatic situation of migrants on the Belarusian-Polish border.

In a telephone conversation she underlined that the instrumentalization of migrants by the ruler Alexander Lukashenko was inhuman and completely unacceptable, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert. Merkel asked Putin “to influence the regime in Minsk”.

Allegations against Lukashenko

Poland and other EU states accuse the leadership in Minsk of specifically promoting illegal border crossings – in retaliation for EU sanctions that were imposed on Belarus. To this end, Lukashenko has refugees from Syria and Iraq flown into Minsk, in order to then smuggle them to the Polish border and thus into the EU.

Lukashenko had denied the allegations and held international smuggling networks responsible for organizing people’s trips.

Thousands of migrants are stuck

In the border area between Belarus and Poland, thousands of migrants are stuck in freezing temperatures. Both countries have soldiers stationed in the area. Observers fear that the situation will escalate.

On Tuesday evening, two large groups of migrants broke the border into Poland. They managed to destroy fences near the villages of Krynki and Bialowieza and to cross the border, reported the Polish news agency PAP, citing the local broadcaster Bialystok. The station quoted a spokeswoman for the border guards that in both cases fences and barriers had been violently torn down.

ARD correspondent Olaf Bock reported in ARD morning magazinethat once 80 and once 200 people crossed the border. It is said to be mainly Kurds. Most of them were returned to Belarus.

Polish police arrested more than 50 migrants near the border with Belarus. The people broke through the border in two groups and entered Poland illegally, said local police spokesman Tomasz Krupa. The arrests were made in the past 24 hours near the village of Bialowieza. Several refugees have evaded arrest and are now being searched for.

Maas for further EU sanctions against Belarus

The acting Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently spoke out in favor of sanctions against anyone involved in the smuggling of refugees to Belarus. “Nobody should be allowed to take part in Lukashenko’s inhumane activities with impunity,” declared the SPD politician. This applies to countries of origin and transit, but also to airlines that enable people to be transported to Belarus. The European Union is ready to “draw clear conclusions here”.

Maas is also in favor of further direct EU sanctions against Belarus. “Lukashenko has to realize that his calculation is not working. Incidentally, that does not rule out extending the sanctions to other areas of the economy in the future.” Some economic sectors such as the potash industry and energy industry are already subject to punitive measures.

Talks about extending the sanctions

According to diplomats, the permanent representatives of the governments of the EU countries want to initiate an expansion of sanctions today.

They could then be decided at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday. The EU has not recognized Lukashenko as president since the controversial presidential election last year.

Poland is considering completely closing the border with Belarus

According to government spokesman Piotr Müller, Poland is considering completely closing the border with Belarus. This will be considered as an option in more far-reaching scenarios, he said in an interview with the “Wirtualna Polska” portal.

The Belarusian authorities had been informed that such a possibility would exist if they did not cease their activities. So far there has been no response from the Belarusian side.