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In the midst of the tension between Belarus and Poland due to the large flow of Asian civilians who want to enter the European Union, the refugees suffer scams and mistreatment by criminals who promise to make them cross the barrier onto Polish soil. Meanwhile, NATO will meet to analyze the response of the Belarusian actions and that of Russia, which increased its military presence on the border with Ukraine.
Europe suffers from a deep migration crisis in different parts of the continent. To what happened this week in the English Channel that involves France and the United Kingdom, the conflict between Poland and Belarus continues to escalate gradually.
In these hours, a sinister methodology of human traffickers who seek to take advantage of the situation of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan citizens who intend to access the European Union became known.
According to testimonies collected by the Reuters agency, the smugglers claim to act as an intermediary for the migrants with the promise that entering Western Europe will be simple and they charge a fee that ranges between three thousand and seven thousand euros.
However, the roads they are pointing to are currently closed and they are trapped by the Polish border police, who return them to the camps that lie in the frosty forests bordering on the Belarusian side.
“They all lead you to paths where you can die, they don’t care about your safety. They just want the money, “one of the Syrian men who suffered from this situation told Reuters. Some, for trying to cross the border illegally, are transferred to Polish detention centers.
“More people are realizing that they have fallen into a trap and that what they have been promised is a lie,” said Marysia Zlonkiewicz, an activist with With Bread and Salt, a Polish charity.
Since August, approximately 314 smugglers have been arrested on Polish territory, according to police records. Most are from Germany, Sweden, Georgia and Ukraine.
The conflictive situation of the migratory flow has already been going on for months and, although the number of people making incursions to enter by force has now decreased -from 500 they have risen to about 200-, the Polish Government and the European Union aim against Belarus to encourage and equip refugees in retaliation for sanctions on Minsk.
Poland had more than 20,000 border guards, soldiers and police in the most closed areas. For their part, Belarusian authorities began to transfer groups of migrants to return them to their country of origin.
Meanwhile, under pressure from the European Union, airlines reduced the number of flights from the Middle East to Belarus. Other agencies stopped selling tickets to the country.
NATO will meet for Belarus and Russia as main topics
This week, the foreign ministers of the member countries of the organization will have a conclave in Riga where the attitudes of both countries will appear as the most urgent topics on the agenda.
Concerned about the security of the Alliance, they will talk about the Russian military increase along the shared border with Ukraine and the Belarusian use of migrants.
However, previously there will be a press conference where Jens Stoltenberg – NATO Secretary General – and Egils Levits – President of Latvia – will speak after having visited Latvian and Lithuanian territory together with Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission – with in order to show support for those countries, threatened by the Belarusian regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
In recent days Stoltenberg had already shown himself with Andrej Duda, President of Poland, for the same purpose. There, he assured that the migrants are helped by the Belarusian military, who provide them with weapons to make night raids.
In another order, the situation that worsened was the one that compromises Ukraine and its border crossing with Russia. In recent days, tension has risen by placing a greater military presence in the area in an “unusual” way, according to Stoltenberg.
This Russian reinforcement is made up of heavy weapons such as tanks, artillery, armored units, drones and electronic systems. “This reaction has not been provoked and has no explanation,” said the NATO secretary general.
Stoltenberg urged Russia to “show transparency, reduce tensions and de-escalate” the armed advance. “There is no certainty about the intentions,” he closed.
With Reuters and EFE
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