EU reaches out to partner countries to prevent migration from Belarus

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - The European Union is seeking cooperation with countries of origin or transit to prevent migrants trying to enter the bloc’s territory via Belarus, an EU official said Tuesday.

“We will deploy all our diplomatic capacity to contact the countries of origin or transit for migrants,” European Commission spokesperson Dana Spinant told reporters at a daily press briefing.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas will soon start a series of travels to prevent the escalation of the migration crisis at the bloc’s borders with Belarus.

Poland and the EU have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of trying to retaliate for EU sanctions by deliberately inviting in and herding migrants towards the Polish border.

“It is important to stop the flow of migration at the source and to make understand that these people have been put in danger by the actions of Lukashenko’s government,” Spinant added.

The Belarusian regime reaches out to potential travelers through their diplomatic representations or travel agencies and invites them to Belarus by offering visa and transports them to the EU border, explained Peter Stano, the European Commission’s foreign policy spokesperson.

“Sometimes even the authorities in these countries are not aware what is going on,” he said.

The bloc wants to raise the awareness of its partners of this dangerous pattern based on “seemingly official authority” by the Belarusian regime, Stano added.

EU countries bordering Belarus - Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland - have been reporting a dramatically growing number of irregular crossings since August.

NATO and the EU consider Belarus’ approach towards migrants an effort to destabilize and undermine security in European countries through non-military means.

According to the EU’s latest figures, 7,935 people tried to enter the bloc via the Belarus-EU border so far this year, up sharply from just 150 last year.​​​​​​ A total of 4,216 crossed the border into Lithuania, 3,305 into Poland, and 414 into Latvia.

On Monday, Polish authorities stepped up border protection and mobilized over 12,000 troops after a large group of migrants started marching towards the country’s frontier with Belarus accompanied by the Belarusian military.​​​​​​​