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  • Germany sees constant increase in arrivals by means of ‘Belarus path’ this year

    Germany sees constant increase in arrivals by means of ‘Belarus path’ this year

    In the very first 5 months of the year, German federal cops signed up 2,215 migrants showing up by irregular ways utilizing the so-called “Belarus path.”

    Individuals were captured at Germany’s borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. Their numbers have actually gradually grown throughout the year: While there were just 26 interceptions in January and 25 in February, the figure increased to 412 in March, 861 in April and 891 in Might.

    However this is still considerably lower than in 2015. By the end of Might 2023, the cops had actually logged around 6,000 unapproved entries by means of the Belarus path.

    Considering That 2021, the European Union has actually implicated Belarus of intentionally helping with the travel of migrants from crisis-wracked nations, generally in the Middle East, by providing visas and logistics assist.

    After drawing the migrants to Belarus, they are then sent out onwards towards EU nations like Poland. Brussels states this is an effort to destabilize the 27-nation bloc in retaliation for EU sanctions on Belarus over the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and the nation’s complicity in Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine.

    A lot of the undocumented migrants on the path attempt to go into Germany, Europe’s most significant economy, after transiting Poland and the Czech Republic.

    In Germany they are set up in lodgings while their asylum applications are evaluated.

    Poland has actually put up a 5.5-metre high fence at its border with Belarus, supported by electronic cameras and guards.

    However more individuals are attempting to cross the border irregularly: The Polish Border Guard has actually signed up 16,500 such efforts considering that the start of the year. In the very same duration in 2023, there were 11,200.

  • Poland reestablishes constraints on accessing locations along Belarus border due to migration pressure

    Poland reestablishes constraints on accessing locations along Belarus border due to migration pressure

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland on Thursday reestablished constraints on motion along parts of the border with Belarus since of increased migration pressure that has actually included violence versus Polish security authorities.

    The restriction working Thursday will stand for 90 days and impacts 60 kilometers (37 miles) of the land border in between NATO member Poland and Belarus, an autocratic state lined up with Russia. The border in between Poland and Belarus runs for about 400 kilometers (250 miles).

    The federal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk states that the function of the so-called buffer zone is to guarantee the security of outsiders, in addition to the border guards, soldiers and authorities who operate in the location. It likewise states it looks for to restrict the activities of human smugglers who have actually been assisting in irregular migration at that border.

    Citizens and those working or studying in the location will have the ability to access the border locations, however others will need licenses.

    Refugee rights activists are dissatisfied with the choice since they state it will avoid them from reaching the location to assist migrants who cross the border and require medical or other support.

    Because 2021 EU authorities have actually implicated authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of weaponizing migration by enticing individuals to his nation to discover a simpler entry point into the bloc than the more harmful paths throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

    Poland’s previous federal government responded to the arrival of migrants by constructing a steel barrier and enforcing a state of emergency situation in 2021 which had actually given that ended.

    The variety of tried prohibited border crossings from Belarus into EU-member Poland has actually once again been growing just recently and Polish authorities state they are seeing aggressive habits by some migrants on the Belarus side of the border. They have actually published online videos revealing migrants tossing rocks, logs and even burning wood at the Polish soldiers from behind the fence. One Polish soldier was fatally stabbed by a migrant in late Might and was put to rest on Wednesday.

  • Why Poland states Russia and Belarus are weaponizing migration to benefit Europe’s reactionary

    Why Poland states Russia and Belarus are weaponizing migration to benefit Europe’s reactionary

    POLAND-BELARUS BORDER, Poland (AP) — A Somali lady presses her bandaged hand in between 2 vertical bars of a thick metal barrier separating Belarus from Poland as she and 4 other females look towards the European Union.

    They nod gratefully as a Polish humanitarian help employee contacts us to them throughout a stretch of land as broad as a one-lane roadway and assures to assist. Polish soldiers patrol close by.

    The verdant spot of Bialowieza Forest that covers the border is amongst the flashpoints of a monthslong standoff in between Belarus and its primary backer and ally Russia, and the 27-member European bloc, which has actually seen a rise in migrant circulations towards the frontier ahead of EU parliamentary elections that begin on Thursday.

    WHAT OCCURRED ON THE BORDER?

    The variety of tried prohibited border crossings from Belarus into EU-member Poland has actually soared in current months to nearly 400 a day — from just a handful a day previously this year, Polish authorities state.

    Poland’s border guards have actually likewise decried significantly aggressive habits by some migrants on the Belarus side of the border. They have actually published online videos of some tossing rocks, logs and even burning wood at the Polish soldiers from behind the fence.

    There have actually been cases of soldiers and guards being hospitalized and some require stitches after being stabbed or cut by knife-wielding attackers. Last Tuesday near the town of Dubicze Cerkiewne, authorities stated a migrant reached in between the bars of the more than 5-meter (16-foot) -high barrier and stabbed a soldier in the ribs.

    For the previous couple of years, EU authorities have actually implicated authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of weaponizing migration by tempting individuals to his nation to discover a much easier entry point into the bloc than the more hazardous paths throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

    Still, migrants have actually passed away, with some buried in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Poland.

    WHAT DOES POLAND SAY?

    Poland sees the brand-new push at the border as a managed effort by Russia and Belarus to sustain anti-migrant belief, which might in turn increase reactionary celebrations in the European vote.

    Poland and the EU state migrants — who have actually travelled to previous Soviet nations from as far as the Middle East and Africa — have actually ended up being pawns in an effort by Russia and Belarus to destabilize Europe, which has actually backed Ukraine in its defense versus Russia’s intrusion more than 2 years back.

    The $405 million (374 million euro) metal barrier was installed along a 180-kilometer (110-mile) stretch of border under Poland’s previous conservative federal government in 2022, part of efforts to suppress big inflows of migrants that numerous in the EU wish to lower.

    The barrier has actually been a gaining point for anti-immigrant celebrations that typically support or are supported by Russia.

    Now the federal government of Polish entrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who took control of in December promising a brand-new pro-EU administration following 8 years of rainy conservative guideline, has actually pledged to step up security steps and states it should secure the EU border.

    “We are not handling (simply) any asylum candidates here, we are handling a collaborated, really effective — on numerous levels — operation to break the Polish border and tries to destabilize the nation,” Tusk stated recently while going to border soldiers.

    WHAT IS THE POLITICAL ENDGAME?

    According to Poland, Moscow’s circumstance of supposedly looking for to flood the EU with a rise in migrants would supply political ammo for anti-migrant, reactionary celebrations in nations such as France, Germany and Italy.

    Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski declared at a conference in Bialystok, eastern Poland, on Monday that a number of the migrants who attempt to break through the Polish border “are individuals with Russian visas” — indicating they were at some point enabled to go into Russia before heading to Belarus and towards the West.

    “They were at least urged and perhaps even hired for this operation, so we understand who lags this operation,” he stated. “This is planned to have a political impact — to enhance the far right, which assures to ruin the European Union from the within.”

    The Interior Ministry in surrounding Germany, the crucial location for numerous migrants, has actually pointed out an increasing pattern in unapproved migration associated to Russia and Belarus. It associated the increase in part to heightened action taken by Russian security authorities versus unapproved migrants following a fatal terrorist attack on a Moscow auditorium in March.

    Critics have actually implicated President Vladimir Putin’s Russia of all sorts of impropriety versus the West recently, consisting of election meddling, disinformation and phony news project s, computer system hacking, and declared poisoning abroad of enemies of the Kremlin chief — all accusations that Moscow has actually rejected.

    Sviatlana Tsikhnaouskaya, Belarusian opposition leader living in exile, informed The Associated Press that Lukashenko’s federal government is attempting “to blackmail the EU and frighten it with waves of unmanageable migrants.”

    “In this, the interests of Lukashenko and Putin line up,” she stated.

    WHAT ABOUT THE MIGRANTS?

    Caught in the middle are the migrants themselves, consisting of numerous females and kids stuck in hostile marshes and forests along the border. In late Might on the Polish side of the border, volunteers were seen offering water to a tired Algerian male.

    Help activists have actually slammed Tusk’s federal government for hard border policies. He has actually acknowledged that numerous soldiers feel conflicted in between the requirement to secure the border and compassion for humanitarian employees who wish to “assist others in distress.”

    Migrants who do make it through can make an application for worldwide security within the EU, which is given in extraordinary cases. Some likewise get deported to their home nations.

    Olga Cielemencka, an activist with Podlaskie Volunteer Humanitarian Emergency situation Service who guaranteed to assist to the Somali lady with the bandaged hand, stated her group is attempting to provide guidance and support to the migrants.

    “However our capabilities to act are really minimal,” she stated. “There isn’t much that we can do.”

    ___

    Associated Press authors Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland, added to this report.

    ___

    Follow AP’s worldwide migration protection at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration

  • Poland has actually detained 18 individuals on claims of preparing hostile act upon behalf of Russia, Belarus

    Poland has actually detained 18 individuals on claims of preparing hostile act upon behalf of Russia, Belarus

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has actually detained 18 individuals on claims of pursuing hostile activities or preparing sabotage on behalf of Russia and Belarus, consisting of strategies to assassinate Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the interior minister stated Monday.

    10 of those detained considering that December were straight associated with preparing numerous kinds of sabotage throughout Poland, Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak informed a press conference.

    Polish authorities have actually connected some current arsons or tried arsons to Russian-sponsored representatives. Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian nationals are amongst those detained in current months, according to the Internal Security Company’s communiques.

    A Polish male was detained in April on claims of being all set to spy for Russia’s military intelligence in a supposed plot to assassinate Zelenskyy, Polish district attorneys have actually stated. The male was supposedly looking for contact with Russians straight associated with the war in Ukraine and was anticipated to hand down in-depth details about the tactical Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine.

    Siemoniak stated that acts of sabotage were obviously part of a larger strategy that likewise consists of cyberattacks,pressing migrants in Belarus to cross into Poland, and threatening the security of the nation that has actually been supporting Ukraine in warding off Russia’s major intrusion.

    “We believe that on the bidding of a foreign nation, Russia, there are some individuals active who are all set to threaten the life, health and residential or commercial property of the Polish residents,” Siemoniak stated.

  • Poland’s leader states the border with Belarus will be additional strengthened after a soldier is stabbed

    Poland’s leader states the border with Belarus will be additional strengthened after a soldier is stabbed

    DUBICZE CERKIEWNE, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated Wednesday that its forces would even more strengthen the border with Belarus and can utilize “all offered methods” to safeguard the NATO country’s frontier, after a soldier was seriously injured with a knife by a migrant.

    Tusk stated that a buffer zone some 200 meters (660 feet) broad would be established along the border, which is likewise the European Union’s eastern frontier, in addition to a 190-kilometer (118-mile) long metal barrier currently in location to avoid an increase of migrants crossing from Belarus. Poland states the pressure of unlawful migration is arranged by Belarus and Russia.

    Tusk stated the federal government will decide on the buffer zone next week.

    Tusk, together with the defense and interior ministers, went to soldiers, border guards and police protecting the border following a knife attack on a soldier early Tuesday near the town of Dubicze Cerkiewne.

    Authorities stated the soldier stays hospitalized in severe condition.

    Authorities stated a migrant reached throughout the bars of the more than 5-meter (16-foot) high metal wall separating Poland and Belarus and stabbed the soldier in the ribs. Polish security forces were unable to apprehend the assailant since he was on the Belarus side of the barrier, authorities stated.

    “There is no space for settlement. Poland’s border should be secured,” Tusk stated. “Polish soldiers, border guards, officers have actually ended up being the targets of aggressiveness and you have every right, not to state a responsibility, to utilize every methods offered to you … when you are protecting not just the border however likewise you own life,” Tusk stated.

    Tusk and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that extra cops and military forces will be sent out to the location.

    The pro-EU federal government states the pressure and aggressiveness of unlawful migration is increasing, arranged by Russia and Belarus to destabilize Europe as Moscow incomes war on Ukraine. Poland’s authorities state migrants groups now primarily consist of boys, compared to households with ladies and kids formerly. More than 13,000 efforts at unlawful crossing were signed up up until now this year, an increase from the very same duration in 2015.

  • Image reveals a 7-layer protective line prepared for the border in between NATO and Russia

    Image reveals a 7-layer protective line prepared for the border in between NATO and Russia

    • Poland revealed a prepare for brand-new defenses along its borders with Russia and Belarus.

    • Poland and other European NATO members are alerting that Russia might release an attack.

    • An image revealed a wall, barbed wire, anti-tank challenges and plants.

    A NATO nation revealed a brand-new prepare for its border meant to resist attacks originating from Russia.

    Poland’s defense ministry on Monday promoted its “east guard,” an operation to enhance its eastern border with Russia and Belarus.

    It stated the effort would be the biggest protective effort on NATO’s eastern flank considering that The second world war ended in 1945.

    A diagram launched as part of a policy file revealed one section of the prepared “border zone.”

    It included a minimum of 8 unique kinds of defense:

    Authorities likewise mentioned prepare for increasing caution and tracking systems and anti-drone systems along with preparing forward running bases.

    The Chief of the General Personnel of the Polish Army, General Wiesław Kukuła, stated the task would enhance Poland’s resistance, restrict the movement of opponent soldiers, and safeguard Polish soldiers and civilians.

    The Russia-Poland border is with Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave to its north. It likewise shares a frontier with Belarus, a dictatorship thought about a Russian puppet state that has actually helped Russia with the intrusion.

    More south, it surrounds Ukraine, where Russia has actually been carrying out a full-blown intrusion considering that 2022.

    The strategy stated not all border locations would be strengthened to optimal strength — however did not offer an in-depth breakdown. Poland has around 140 miles of border with Russia and around 250 miles with Belarus.

    It stated the “east guard” strategy will cover 435 miles of border in overall.

    Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s defense minister, stated deal with the defenses would begin this year and end by 2028.

    Poland’s deputy prime minister approximated the expense at $2.56 billion.

    Polish armed forces' Chief of Staff. Gen Wieslaw Kukula and Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk speak at podiums in front of flags and photos of defensive structures being built

    Polish militaries’ Chief of Personnel. Gen Wieslaw Kukula and Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk discuss the strategy to enhance NATO’s eastern flank in Warsaw, Poland on Monday.AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski

    The task is being performed in cooperation with the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, which Poland is dealing with to increase security in the area.

    All 4 nations utilized to be controlled by the Soviet Union and have actually been outspoken about the possibility of Russia assaulting once again.

    Poland and the Baltics have actually been Ukraine’s many sincere allies, promoting for more remarkable reactions than many Western nations.

    Poland invests a greater portion of its GDP on defense than any other NATO member, consisting of the United States.

    Cautions Russia might assault

    Poland is among lots of European NATO members that alerting that Russia might assault in other places in Europe if it is not beat in Ukraine. Since of NATO’s cumulative defense provision, that would likely likewise bring the United States into a broader war.

    The head of Poland’s nationwide security company stated at the end of in 2015 that Russia might assault NATO nations within 3 years — by 2026.

    Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk likewise stated in March that Europe remained in a “pre-war age” and required to prepare urgently.

    Other Russian next-door neighbors are enhancing their borders

    Other nations near Russia are likewise increasing their border defenses.

    Baltic nations likewise prepare huge strongholds on their borders with Russia and Belarus, consisting of bunkers.

    6 NATO nations — Poland, Finland, Norway, and the 3 Baltic states — are likewise apparently preparing a “drone wall” to resist Russia.

    Poland currently has a border wall in between it and Belarus, developed by its previous federal government in 2015 to avoid migration.

    Poland and its next-door neighbors state Russia is targeting them by sending out migrants throughout their borders and by introducing cyberattacks, explaining the actions as Russian efforts to destabilize Europe.

    Check out the initial post on Service Expert

  • Poland eyes strongholds on its border with Belarus

    Poland eyes strongholds on its border with Belarus

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Defense authorities in NATO member Poland provided intend on Monday for strengthening its eastern border with Moscow ally Belarus.

    The federal government states that Poland, which supports Ukraine in its defense versus Russia’s aggressiveness, is being targeted by hostile actions from Russia and Belarus. They consist of cyberattacks, tried arson and migrants being pressed unlawfully throughout the border, which authorities refer to as planned to destabilize the European Union, of which Poland is a member.

    The federal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has actually prepared a series of security procedures consisting of in the online world, along with some $2.5 billion financial investment into eastern border security, called Shield-East. He stated recently that deal with the guard has actually started.

    Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and the militaries chief of personnel, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, exist the information of the border defense improvement, consisting of modern-day blockades, strongholds and monitoring that look for to prevent any prospective assailant.

    The Defense Ministry states the system will be a component of local defense facilities constructed collectively with the Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — that are likewise on NATO’s eastern flank.

    Shield-East will “considerably reinforce the country’s strength to military dangers from the east, it will restrict the movement of the enemy’s soldiers while using a higher flexibility of action and survival to our own soldiers and to civilians,” the ministry stated.

    Poland’s previous conservative federal government constructed a $400 million wall on the border with Belarus to stop an enormous inflow of migrants that started to be pressed from that instructions in 2021. The existing pro-EU federal government states it requires to be enhanced.

    The 3 Baltic states were as soon as part of the Soviet Union, while Poland was a satellite state of the USSR before the 1990s. Moscow still relates to the location as within its sphere of interests.

  • Poland will evaluate if it can resume one crossing with Belarus, states PM

    Poland will evaluate if it can resume one crossing with Belarus, states PM

    WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland might resume one border crossing with Belarus, the prime minister stated on Friday, in a quote to assist services in the nation’s east who have actually taken a hit from the closure of checkpoints due to tense relations in between Warsaw and Minsk.

    Poland’s border with Belarus has actually been a flashpoint considering that migrants began gathering there in 2021, after Minsk, a close Russian ally, opened travel bureau in the Middle East using a brand-new informal path into Europe – a relocation the European Union stated was developed to develop a crisis.

    Because Russia’s 2022 intrusion of Ukraine, relations have actually ended up being a lot more stretched, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated on Saturday that Poland would invest around 10 billion zlotys($2.55 billion) on protecting the frontier.

    “We require to evaluate whether it is possible to unclog one crossing,” Tusk informed an election rally in the eastern city of Bialystok on Friday.

    “I will not make this choice if the military and border guard commands have a plainly unfavorable viewpoint that it might have an unfavorable, enormous effect on our security.”

    He stated the crossing he would think about opening would be Bobrowniki. At present, 4 of the 6 crossings with Belarus are totally closed.

    The Border Guard has actually reported bigger varieties of migrants attempting to cross the border unlawfully in current weeks.

    ($1 = 3.9185 zlotys)

    (Reporting by Alan Charlish and Karol Badohal in Warsaw; Modifying by Matthew Lewis)

  • On a check out to his Belarusian ally, Putin concerns Zelenskyy’s authenticity as Ukraine’s leader

    On a check out to his Belarusian ally, Putin concerns Zelenskyy’s authenticity as Ukraine’s leader

    TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin visited his Belarusian equivalent and close ally for talks Friday in Minsk, after which he questioned whether Volodymyr Zelenskyy has the authenticity to work out on Ukraine’s behalf.

    Russia wants to hold speak about the war in Ukraine, Putin stated, however Zelenskyy’s five-year term in workplace was expected to end Might 20.

    Nevertheless, Zelenskyy has actually dismissed holding brand-new governmental elections while his nation is at war — something Putin obviously neglected in remarks to press reporters.

    Ukrainian legislation prohibits elections throughout martial law that has actually remained in location because Russia introduced its intrusion in February 2022. The nation would need to change the law to elections throughout a state of war.

    Russian authorities have actually consistently called attention to the concern of Zelenskyy’s term in workplace throughout the previous week.

    “Obviously, we know that the authenticity of the present president has actually ended,” Putin stated at a press conference in Minsk after talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

    “We should be totally sure that we are handling genuine authorities,” stated Putin, who has actually consistently specified that Russia is all set for talks with Ukraine.

    Nevertheless, Zelenskyy has actually turned down the prerequisites that Russia has actually presented for talks, consisting of enabling Russia to maintain the area Kremlin’s forces have actually taken because the February 2022 intrusion.

    A global peace conference on Ukraine is to be kept in Switzerland in June, however Russia has actually not been not welcomed and Putin has actually dismissed the conference’s value.

    The two-day check out to Belarus was among numerous foreign trips Putin utilized to start his 5th term in workplace. Because his Might 7 inauguration, he likewise has actually gone to China and is anticipated in Uzbekistan on Sunday.

    Russia and Belarus have significantly close relations and anticipate ultimately forming a so-called “union state.”

    Lukashenko has actually offered Moscow consent to release Russian tactical nuclear weapons and soldiers to in Belarus, which shares a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine. In 2023, Russia moved a few of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

    Unlike nuclear-tipped global ballistic rockets that can damage whole cities, tactical nuclear weapons planned for usage versus soldiers on the battleground are less effective. Such weapons consist of aerial bombs, warheads for short-range rockets and weapons munitions.

    Releasing tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus would permit Russian airplane and rockets to reach prospective targets in Ukraine more quickly and rapidly if Moscow chooses to utilize them. It likewise extends Russia’s ability to target numerous NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.

    Russia has actually likewise utilized Belarus, which depends upon Russian loans and low-cost energy, as a staging ground in the war in Ukraine, releasing a few of its soldiers there.

    The 2 nations started military drills including tactical nuclear weapons previously this month.

    Moscow stated its drills, revealed openly for the very first time on Might 6, were a reaction to declarations by Western authorities signifying perhaps much deeper participation in the war in Ukraine. The drills started today.

    Belarus introduced its maneuvers including rockets and warplanes efficient in bring tactical nuclear weapons on May 7.

  • Putin gets here in surrounding Belarus for a two-day see with a crucial ally

    Putin gets here in surrounding Belarus for a two-day see with a crucial ally

    Russian President Vladimir Putin got here Thursday in Belarus for a two-day see as part of a number of foreign trips to start his 5th term in workplace, highlighting close ties with a surrounding ally that has actually contributed in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

    Putin took a trip to China previously this month, and is anticipated in Uzbekistan on Sunday. Previously on Thursday, the Russian president hosted Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in the Kremlin.

    In Belarus, Putin is to hold talks with his Belarusian equivalent Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko welcomed him on the tarmac, and after that the 2 took a seat for a “brief discussion” at the airport, the Kremlin reported. Lukashenko guaranteed to talk about “security problems at the leading edge, and tomorrow we will talk about financial problems together with our coworkers from the federal governments.”

    The Belarusian leader on Thursday designated a brand-new chief of the nation’s military basic personnel in a relocation that experts state is focused on revealing the Kremlin the utmost commitment of its next-door neighbor and ally.

    Russia utilized Belarus, which depends upon Russian loans and inexpensive energy, as a staging ground in the war in Ukraine, releasing a few of its soldiers there from Belarusian area. In 2023, Russia likewise moved a few of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

    Maj. Gen. Pavel Muraveyka, who was designated as chief of Belarus’ General Personnel and as very first deputy defense minister, is understood for openly threatening surrounding NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

    In October 2023, he stated that Belarus might take the so-called Suwalki Space — a sparsely inhabited stretch of land running about 100 kilometers (60 miles) along the Polish-Lithuanian border. It connects Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with the remainder of the NATO alliance and separates Belarus from Kaliningrad, a greatly militarized Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea that has no land connection to Russia.

    Military experts in the West have long saw the Suwalki Space as a possible flashpoint in any conflict in between Russia and NATO. They fret that Russia may attempt to take the space and cut off the 3 Baltic states from Poland and other NATO countries.

    “Muraveiko’s visit is an open difficulty to the West and a desire to reveal Putin Minsk’s total commitment and desire to keep a tactical collaboration with Russia,” independent Belarusian expert Valery Karbalevich informed The Associated Press.

    “The release of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus does not leave Lukashenko a tactical option, turns him into a captive of the Kremlin and securely binds Minsk to Moscow’s policies,” Karbalevich stated.

    Both Russia and Belarus started military drills including tactical nuclear weapons previously this month. Moscow stated its drills, revealed openly for the very first time on Might 6, were an action to declarations by Western authorities indicating potentially much deeper participation in the war in Ukraine. Belarus released its maneuvers including rockets and warplanes efficient in bring tactical nuclear weapons on Might 7; Russia’s workouts started today.

    Moscow has actually stressed that the tactical nuclear weapons released to Belarus stay under Russian military control.

    Unlike nuclear-tipped global ballistic rockets that can ruin whole cities, tactical nuclear weapons meant for usage versus soldiers on the battleground are less effective. Such weapons consist of aerial bombs, warheads for short-range rockets and weapons munitions.

    The release of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would permit Russian airplane and rockets to reach possible targets there more quickly and rapidly if Moscow chooses to utilize them. It likewise extends Russia’s ability to target a number of NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.

  • Polish activists criticize Tusk’s government for tough border policies and migrant pushbacks

    Polish activists criticize Tusk’s government for tough border policies and migrant pushbacks

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Refugee rights activists on Monday criticized Poland’s pro-European Union government for plans to tighten security at the border with Belarus and for continuing a policy initiated by predecessors of pushing migrants back across the border there.

    The activists organized an online news conference after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made his first visit to the border area since he took office in December. Tusk met Saturday in that eastern region with border guards, soldiers and police, and vowed that Poland would spare no expense to strengthen security.

    Tusk said Belarus was escalating a “hybrid war” against the EU, using migrants to put pressure on the border. He cited Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as another reason for further fortifying the border between NATO member Poland and Belarus, a repressive state allied with Russia.

    “During the press conference, he didn’t mention people or human lives at all,” said Anna Alboth with Grupa Granica, a Polish group that has been helping migrants in eastern Poland.

    Migrants, most of them from the Middle East and Africa, began arriving in 2021 to the border, which is part of the EU’s external frontier as they seek entry into the bloc. Polish authorities attempted to keep them out, pushing them back, something activists say violates international law.

    EU authorities accused authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of luring migrants there to create a migration crisis that would destabilize the EU. Once the new route opened, many other migrants continued to follow the path, finding it an easier entry point than more dangerous routes across the Mediterranean Sea.

    It is “probably the safest, cheapest and fastest way to Europe,” Alboth said.

    Still, some migrants have died, with some buried in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Poland. Bartek Rumienczyk, another activist with Grupa Granica, said the group knows of more than 60 deaths of migrants who have died since 2021.

    “But we are all aware that the number is probably way higher,” he said.

    Poland’s previous populist government, which clashed with the EU over rule of law issues, built the steel wall that runs along the 187 kilometers (116 miles) of land border between Poland and Belarus. The Bug River separates the countries along part of the border.

    Poland’s former government, led by the Law and Justice party, was strongly anti-migrant and constructed the wall and launched a policy of pushing irregular migrants back across the border.

    Activists hoped that the policy would change under Tusk, who is more socially liberal and shuns language denigrating migrants and refugees. However, he is also taking a strong stance against irregular migration.

    The activists say it’s harder for them to get their message out now because of the popularity and respect that Tusk enjoys abroad.

    “Thanks to the fact that the government changed into a better government, it’s also much more difficult to talk about what is happening,” she said. “People have no idea that pushbacks are still happening.”

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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  • Poland to Bolster Borders Amid Threats From Russia, Belarus

    Poland to Bolster Borders Amid Threats From Russia, Belarus

    (Bloomberg) — Poland plans to bolster security along its eastern borders amid threats from Belarus and Russia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday.

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    “We have begun intensive work on a modern fortification along the entire Polish border from the east,” he told soldiers and border guard personnel in a televised speech.

    The visit comes after a Polish judge recently defected to Belarus and asked the country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko for political asylum. Tusk has called for a parliamentary probe into potential Russian and Belarusian interference in Polish politics.

    Illegal crossings from Belarus into Poland have increased, according to Tusk, who accused the Russian ally of orchestrating a “progressing hybrid war” against Warsaw.

    “This is the external border not only of Poland, but also of the European Union,” Tusk said.

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  • Belarus launches nuclear drills a day after Russia announces them, with Ukraine in mind

    Belarus launches nuclear drills a day after Russia announces them, with Ukraine in mind

    Belarus on Tuesday launched drills involving missiles and warplanes capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, which close ally Russia has deployed there amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.

    The Belarusian maneuvers began a day after Russia announced plans to hold similar drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons in what it cast as a response to statements by Western officials signaling possibly deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine. It was the first time such an exercise had been publicly announced by Moscow.

    Belarus’ Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said a unit of Iskander short-range missiles and a squadron of Su-25 fighter jets will take part in the drills.

    The maneuvers began as Russian President Vladimir Putin was inaugurated to a fifth term on Tuesday, vowing to ensure Russia’s security.

    Last year, Russia moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, which also borders Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has relied on close ties with Russia and provided his country as a staging ground for the war in Ukraine.

    Moscow has emphasized that the tactical nuclear weapons deployed to Belarus remain under Russian military control.

    The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them. It also extends Russia’s capability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.

    Unlike nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons intended for use against troops on the battlefield are less powerful. Such weapons include aerial bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions.

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  • Poland minister denies ‘pushback’ of pregnant Eritrean woman at border

    Poland minister denies ‘pushback’ of pregnant Eritrean woman at border

    Poland has denied that a pregnant Eritrean woman gave birth alone at the Poland-Belarus border after activists said soldiers had “pushed her back”.

    Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Duszczyk told the BBC the woman came to the Polish border with her newborn and was taken to hospital.

    But activists said she had previously tried to enter Poland and had been in the forested border area for a month.

    The new Polish government has vowed a “more humanitarian” border policy.

    But activists say that Polish border guards are continuing to push back migrants who are attempting to cross the border from Belarus. Poland accuses Belarus of encouraging the flow of migrants as an act of “hybrid warfare”.

    Mr Duszczyk said it would be virtually impossible for a woman to live in the forest for a month in very cold temperatures and give birth alone.

    He said border guards took her to hospital in Hajnówka, close to the border, when they found her.

    However Adam Barwiński from Grupa Granica – an organisation of activists and human rights workers who help people trying to cross the border – told the BBC that the 38-year old woman told the organisation that she had approached Polish soldiers after crossing the border fence but had been denied entry into Poland.

    Mr Barwiński said the woman, who didn’t want to be named, had also told them that she’d been on the road for many years “searching for a safe place”, and before coming to the Polish border from Belarus, she had spent several years in refugee camps in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. She had given birth alone in the forest, Grupa Granica said.

    “This drama must end, no one should be forced to give birth under such circumstances,” said Mr Barwiński.

    On Saturday activists said she had left hospital and was in an apartment with her baby.

    Mr Duszczyk denied that the government of Donald Tusk was continuing pushbacks and said its top priority was “zero deaths at the border”.

    “When the Eritrean mother and baby were taken in by soldiers at the border and sent to hospital, she asked for international protection, and we’ve started the procedure under EU law,” he said

    “We do our best to help teenagers and women, and since January this year, we’ve accepted 350 migrants asking for international protection,” he added.

    In January more than 100 NGOs and 500 activists and cultural figures urged Mr Tusk to end pushbacks and said his government was condoning human rights violations if it did not do so.

    However activist Iwo Los, also from Grupa Granica, said the practice was continuing.

    His organisation said border guards had pushed back more than 1,700 people since December. Some 25 of these people were still missing and five were known to have died, it alleged.

    Mr Duszczyk said the Polish government was facing an “organised, instrumentalised migration war” being carried out by Belarus.

    Poland alleges that since 2021 Belarus has been encouraging people from the Middle East and Africa to travel to Belarus and then cross the border illegally to Poland.

    In 2021 the European Union accused Belarus’s authoritarian leader President Alexander Lukashenko of facilitating the influx in retaliation against sanctions.

    “We’re trying to combine security with humanitarianism while saving our border in line with EU law,” Mr Duszczyk said.

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  • Russia Detains Three More People Over Concert Shooting, News Agencies Say

    Russia Detains Three More People Over Concert Shooting, News Agencies Say

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s FSB security service has detained three more people suspected of involvement in last month’s mass shooting at a concert hall near Moscow, Russian news agencies quoted the FSB as saying on Thursday.

    A Russian citizen and two foreign citizens, all of them originally from Central Asia, were detained in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Omsk, Interfax quoted an FSB statement as saying.

    According to the FSB, two of the detainees transferred money for the purchase of firearms and vehicles used in the attack on the Crocus City Hall on March 22 in which at least 144 people were killed. The third detainee was directly involved in recruiting accomplices to the attack and financing the perpetrators.

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Russian Investigators Say They Got 143 Missing Person Requests After Moscow Shooting

    Russian Investigators Say They Got 143 Missing Person Requests After Moscow Shooting

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian state investigators said on Wednesday they had received 143 reports about people who had gone missing as a result of last Friday’s mass shooting in Moscow.

    The Investigative Committee, which deals with major crimes, said in a statement that 84 bodies had so far been identified, including the bodies of five children aged nine to 16.

    It said tests were being carried out to establish the identities of the remaining victims.

    The official death toll in the attack currently stands at 140 people.

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    (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Lukashenko hints at Moscow attackers’ plans to flee to Belarus

    Lukashenko hints at Moscow attackers’ plans to flee to Belarus

    Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that the gunmen who attacked a concert hall near Moscow last week may have wanted to flee to his country, according to state news agency Belta.

    Lukashenko said that security measures were put in place along Belarus’ border with Russia when it became apparent, after the attack on the Crocus City Hall last Friday, that the perpetrators had driven a car into the Russian region of Bryansk, which borders Belarus and Ukraine.

    The authoritarian long-term ruler of the ex-Soviet republic, which is allied with Russia, said that the attackers “were therefore unable to enter Belarus. They saw that. That’s why they turned around and drove towards the Ukrainian-Russian border.”

    At least 139 people were killed and around 200 others injured when four gunmen opened fire on concert-goers at the Crocus City Hall venue in the city of Krasnogorsk near Moscow on Friday evening shortly before a rock concert was set to start. They also set fire to the building, causing its roof to collapse.

    The alleged shooters were arrested in Bryansk shortly afterwards, according to the authorities. They have been presented to a Moscow court and given pre-trial detention.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has been claiming for days that the suspects had wanted to flee to Ukraine and were expected there. The Ukrainian leadership has rejected this allegation.

    Although the Islamic State terrorist militia has claimed several times that it carried out the attack, and Western experts consider that claim to be credible, Russian representatives continue to insist that Ukraine is involved. They have not provided any evidence to support the allegation.

    Western security authorities and experts suspect the offshoot Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) to be behind the attack.

    The secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, continued to blame Ukraine for the attack on Tuesday.

    When asked by journalists whether the Islamic State terrorist militia or Ukraine was behind the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall, Patrushev replied: “Ukraine, of course,” according to state news agency TASS.

    The 72-year-old, who repeatedly appears as an ardent supporter of the Russian war against Ukraine, did not explain how he arrived at this assessment.

    Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been somewhat more circumspect. He said he was counting on the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office to do everything possible “to ensure that the criminals receive a just punishment, as prescribed by Russian law.”

    On Monday, Putin confirmed that the attack was carried out by Islamist terrorists. At the same time, he made it clear, as he had done at the weekend, that he sees a Ukrainian link.

    Russia wants to know “who ordered the attack,” he said. Putin therefore assumes that Islamists carried out the order for the mass murder, but that the masterminds are located elsewhere. He sees the motive in Ukraine, not in Islamic State.

    Earlier Tuesday, a Russian court ordered the detention of an eighth suspect following the deadly attack. In total, 11 suspects have been arrested.

    The man is a 31-year-old Russian citizen born in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Russian news agency Interfax reported on Tuesday, citing Moscow’s Basmanny District Court.

    He is accused of having provided the attackers with a flat before the offence. Interfax reported that the man had denied in court that he knew about the plans, and believed the people who rented the flat were normal tenants.

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  • 27 Nobel laureates demand the release of political prisoners in Belarus

    27 Nobel laureates demand the release of political prisoners in Belarus

    TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — In an open letter, 27 Nobel laureates have demanded the release of all political prisoners in Belarus including Ales Bialiatski, the winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

    The Nobel laureates said the situation in Belarus is a “humanitarian catastrophe” and called for an immediate end to political repression in the country of 9.5 million people, which is isolated in Europe but a close ally of neighboring Russia.

    “Over the past four years, more than 50,000 people have been subjected to political repression in Belarus, hundreds of thousands of citizens have been forced to leave the country, and thousands of people have been tortured”, the open letter signed by the laureates and published online says.

    They include journalists, academics, doctors, musicians, students and defenders of human rights.

    Bialiatski, 61, was arrested after an unprecedented wave of mass demonstrations against the disputed result of a presidential election in 2020. In 2022, while in custody awaiting trial, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The following year he was convicted of financing actions violating public order and smuggling and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

    His wife, Natalia Pinchuk, told The Associated Press that Bialiatski has been in solitary confinement for more than six months in conditions she described as “torture.”

    The letter was signed by four Nobel peace laureates including Dmitry Muratov from Russia and Alexandra Matviichuk from Ukraine. It was also signed by literature laureates including Svetlana Alexievich from Belarus as well as 19 others who hold prizes in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine and economics.

    “In recent decades, Europe has not seen a humanitarian catastrophe related to political repression on such a per capita scale as in Belarus,” activist Dmitry Bolkunets said in a letter posted on his website. He is in exile in Warsaw.

    Today there are 1,411 political prisoners behind bars in Belarus, says the human rights group Viasna. The prisoners families’ and rights groups say they are kept in conditions akin to torture and are deprived of medical care.

    Belarusian authorities have been accused of keeping opposition leaders in complete isolation and of depriving them of communication with their lawyers and relatives.

    Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told AP she has not heard from her imprisoned husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski for more than a year, a form of torture for both of them, she said. For more than a year there also has been no information from opposition activists Viktar Babaryka, Maria Kolesnikova, Maxim Znak and Mikola Statkevich.

    There are reports on almost a daily basis from human rights activists about the arrest of activists, journalists, and lawyers as well as police raids inside Belarus.

    The Nobel laureates are calling on all European Union governments to take immediate action to pressure the government of President Alexander Lukashenko to stop the “brutal repression” in Belarus and release all political prisoners.

    The letter calls on Poland, as Belarus’s largest western neighbor, to exert its influence by suspending the rail transport of goods to the EU from Belarus, including shipments in transit from Russia and China.

    “The commercial interests that European countries have cannot outweigh the issues of their national security and their duty to save innocent people being victimized in Belarus,” the letter says.

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