This Is How the European Union and Belarus Use Migrants as Pawns in Their Political Maneuvers

For several weeks, Europe has been facing a dangerous escalation on the Polish–Belarusian border following a difficult equation that combines addressing sudden irregular migration flows with the human rights that it has always adhered to. In conjunction with the exploitation by many countries neighboring the continental bloc of the “migrants card” as a weapon for political blackmail, according to press reports.

With the European Union recently hinting at imposing more sanctions on Belarus, the latter decided to resort to the threat of the most sensitive files to Europe, the threat to cut off gas supplies. What may portend a harsh and unprecedented winter for the countries of the European continent.

The Belarusian–Western dispute began to gradually escalate and intensify, in conjunction with the intervention of many international and regional parties, which, in turn, did not reach a solution to the crisis, which began to take on other dimensions amid dead ends.

On the other hand, thousands of asylum seekers continue to suffer because they remain in the open grounds near the border fence between Belarus and Poland, amid a severe shortage of supplies and medicine. In harsh weather conditions, these asylum seekers are still waiting for a solution to their crisis, which has been going on for nearly two weeks.

 

Political Bargains

For the second time in 3 days, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel have phone conversations. During which they discussed the migrant crisis at the borders of the European Union and Belarus.

The media office of the Belarusian president said in a statement on November 17, 2021, that: Merkel and Lukashenko agreed that the problem in its entirety belongs to the level of Belarus–EU relations. They also agreed that officials appointed by each of the parties would immediately hold negotiations.

This week also saw Macron hold a long phone call with Putin about the role Russia can play in resolving the crisis. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also spoke with Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, and Putin as well spoke to Lukashenko.

The European Union, led by Germany, seeks to end the migrant crisis at the Polish–Belarusian border with the least possible losses to the crisis. Especially in view of the insistence of stranded immigrants, mostly from Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, to cross the Polish border.

The European Union accuses Belarus of organizing the flow of thousands of migrants to the borders of Poland and Lithuania, with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in retaliation for European sanctions imposed on it following the continuous suppression of the Belarusian opposition since 2020.

In contrast, Minsk denies this, but says it cannot help resolving the crisis unless Europe lifts sanctions.

On November 9, 2021, the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, blamed Russia for the exacerbation of the crisis on the border with Belarus.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin is the mastermind of the crisis,” Morawiecki said.

Morawiecki also warned of the repercussions of this crisis on the security and stability of the European Union as a whole, as quoted by Reuters.

Moscow's response came on November 10, 2021, through the Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who said at a press conference: “We consider the statements of the Polish Prime Minister that Russia is responsible for this situation are completely irresponsible and unacceptable.”

The escalation of the crisis of statements came in conjunction with the deployment of more Polish soldiers along the border with Belarus to keep migrants away from its borders. While Russia said it considered the Polish troop movements a threat, it responded by sending bombers to patrol over Belarus.

At a time when the migrant crisis at the Belarusian–European border is heading to a dead end. Lukashenko, during a press conference on November 11, 2021, threatened to cut off the supplies of Russian gas delivered to Europe through the territory of Belarus.

However, the Kremlin distanced itself from the statements of the Belarusian president. It said in a statement on November 12, 2021, that “it had not been consulted in advance about the statements, and that it would honor contracts for gas deliveries to Europe.”

In turn, Morawiecki said, commenting on these developments: “What we are dealing with is a new type of war in which civilians and media messages are ammunition.”

Experts and analysts confirm that Lukashenko is well aware that the gas issue has today become an important diplomatic weapon and a geostrategic bargaining card against Europe, which suffers from a severe shortage of energy and gas in return for high demand and prices.

On the other hand, other Western officials believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to create a dramatic landscape and undermine the West, but it will not amount to an actual armed conflict. This is due to the fact that the main cause of the confrontation is migrants, whose number is much smaller than those flows that Europe witnessed in 2015.

 

Exploitation of Immigrants

In the same context, the Polish Ministry of Defense, a European country ruled by a right-wing anti-migration government, announced that it had detained a group of about 100 migrants who tried to illegally enter its territory from Belarus on the night of November 17, 2021, according to Reuters.

In turn, the Polish Defense Minister, Mariusz Blaschak, expected the crisis to continue for months and perhaps more years.

On her part, the Minister of Migration and Displacement in the Iraqi government, Evan Faeq, said in her meeting with the European Union Ambassador to Iraq, Villa Fariola, on November 17, 2021, that “the political conflict between the European Union and Belarus is victimized by the Iraqi refugees at the border, who are subjected to the harshest types of dealing far from humanitarian and international standards.”

“The government has stopped all direct flights to Belarus in order to preserve the safety of Iraqi families, who may fall victim to smugglers' greed,” Faeq added.

The writer in the Palestinian newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Bassem Barhoum, agreed that “migrants who fled their countries due to political and economic crises are just a card in the struggle of European countries.”

“Such a crisis controlled by stubbornness and irresponsibility could explode at any moment and turn into a bloody armed conflict,” he warned in his article.

“Lukashenko is trying to put pressure on the European Union countries, with the aim of pushing her to recognize his personality as president, talk to him and end the sanctions imposed by the Union on his country,” Barhoum believed.

On his part, writer Kenaan Malik said, in an article published in The Guardian, on November 14, 2021: “It is true that Lukashenko uses migrants as pawns in a cynical diplomatic maneuver, but the exploitation of human beings is exactly what EU migration policy has also been practicing for the past three decades.”

Instead of tackling the latest crisis directly, Europe is building a fortress.

Fortress Europe was created by funding countries that prevent irregular migrants from arriving in the European Union. As well as turning migrants into tools for material benefit, with not seeing that they are breathing human beings, but as if they were wrecks being pushed away from the shores and borders of Europe. “This is what countries like Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are doing,” said Malik.

 

Dead Ends

On November 15, 2021, EU foreign ministers did not hesitate to expand sanctions against Belarus to punish it for employing illegal migration as a political weapon against the continental bloc.

The Council of Member States said the EU would now be able to target airlines, travel agencies and individuals. They contributed to enabling the Belarusian regime to exploit illegal migrants as a political weapon.

In this context, Rami al-Khalifa al-Ali, a researcher in political philosophy at the University of Paris, said in an interview with Al-Araby channel on November 17, 2021: “The issue of migrants comes among a series of outstanding issues between Russia and the West. Starting with the Russian build-up on the Ukrainian border, up to the maneuvers conducted by NATO in the Black Sea, in addition, Russia has installed missiles close to the Polish border.”

“The responsibility lies with the European Union in refugee crises, because of its two methods of dealing with refugee waves. First, by building fortresses, securing borders, and using violence to expel migrants. Second is through an agreement with other countries to protect European borders,” according to the researcher al-Ali.

In the face of sanctions and threats from the European Union, supported by NATO and the United States of America, Minsk has taken some steps towards resolving the crisis, including the announcement by the Belarusian airline (Belavia) to prevent Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis, and Afghans from boarding flights from the Emirates to Belarus.

In another attempt to calm tensions, several other airlines in Turkey, Iran, and Syria have taken measures to limit the number of nationalities of previously mentioned passengers flying to Belarus from the Middle East.

Belarus also said that it had begun working to return migrants to their countries of origin. Emphasizing that he does not want a conflict, President Lukashenko was quoted by the official Belta Agency on November 15, 2021.

However, and as usual, Lukashenko said: “Work is underway in this area to convince people. Please go home. But no one wants to go back.”

At the same time, Lukashenko threatened that the migrants could be sent on board the Belarusian airline Belavia to Germany.

In a related context, a spokesman for the Iraqi embassy in Moscow told AFP on November 16, 2021, that “about 200 people, including women and children, who are currently in Belarus, contacted the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Moscow and asked to be repatriated.”

It is noteworthy that at least eight migrants, including Syrians and Iraqis, were killed by Belarusian and Polish border guards in the woods, according to testimonies of other migrants.