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File Photo: Lithuanian soldiers install a razor wire on the border with Belarus on July 9, 2021 in Druskininkai, Lithuania.Reuters / Janice Raisans / File Photos

August 5, 2021

Warsaw (Reuters)-Poland has accused Belarus of sending immigrants across the border in retaliation for this weeks decision to evacuate to Belarusian athlete Kristina Zimanuskaya, who refused to return from the Tokyo Olympics.

Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik said Thursday that Minsk is waging a hybrid war with the European Union with the help of illegal immigrants.

In recent weeks, neighboring EU member states Lithuania have reported a surge in illegal border crossings from Belarus, saying Minsk has been sending foreign migrants to the EU.

There are both young men and women with children. Belarus uses these migrants as a living weapon, Wasik told online broadcaster Telewizjaw Polsce.

Recently, there has been an increase in (immigrants). We treat it as a reaction to allowing Belarusian sprinters to asylum.

Belarusian government officials were not immediately asked for comment.

The Cold War-style asylum in Zimanuskaya aroused western tensions with Minsk when the EU accused President Alexander Lukashenko of using immigrants to counter EU sanctions.

The Polish Border Guard told Reuters that it detained a group of 71 migrants at the border with Belarus Wednesday to Thursday night and a group of 62 people (mainly Iraqi) on Wednesday.

This exceeds a total of 122 illegal immigrants who said border guards were detained along the frontier throughout last year. Last month, 242 migrants were intercepted.

According to Wasik, the most recently arrived migrants came not only from Iraq, but also from Afghanistan.

The Home Office did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

The EU summoned a Belarusian envoy in Brussels to discuss the issue of illegal immigration to the block with the Iraqi government.

(Report by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Agnieszka Barteczko, written by Alan Charlish, edited by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)

Poland says Belarus will force migrants to cross the border in a hybrid war with the EU

Source link Poland says Belarus will force migrants to cross the border in a hybrid war with the EU

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Poland says Belarus will force migrants to cross the border in a "hybrid war" with the EU - Texasnewstoday.com