Belarus Calls on EU Countries to Start Dialogue on Illegal Migration
Migrants on the border with Belarus, 2022. X/ @ajplus
November 15, 2024 Hour: 8:30 am
Nearly 28,000 attempts to enter Poland from Belarus were recorded between January and October.
On Friday, the Secretary of Belarus’s Security Council, Alexander Volfovich, called on European Union (EU) countries to initiate a dialogue on illegal migration to take joint constructive steps.
RELATED:
Belarus Deploys a Third of Army Along Border With Ukraine: Lukashenko
“To find ways to address this problem, we must sit at the negotiating table, hold a dialogue, develop joint constructive measures, and establish close cooperation,” he said, specifying that he was primarily referring to Poland and the Baltic states, with which Minsk has had tense relations for many years.
According to Volfovich, the solution requires both political and economic measures. He insisted that Belarus did not create this problem but remains the only transit corridor for people seeking to enter the EU illegally from the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa. “Each year, around 1,500 illegal immigrants are detained at the borders of the republic,” he stated.
Meanwhile, just last year, approximately 60 illegal migration channels were dismantled, and 170 individuals involved in these activities were detained.
In October, Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister, Paweł Bejda, noted that migration pressure in the region has decreased in numerical terms in recent days but “remains intense and violent in nature.”
Bejda specified that most of the people detained are young men of Afghan, Syrian, or Iranian nationality who attempt to reach Polish territory using portable ladders and are equipped with jacks, saws, and tools to breach barbed wire fences.
According to Polish authorities, nearly 28,000 attempts to enter Poland from Belarus were recorded between January 1 and October 15, 2024, surpassing last year’s total of 25,702 attempts.
Belarusian authorities have expressed a desire to normalize relations with Brussels ahead of the presidential elections in January, where Alexander Lukashenko will seek reelection.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
