Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Belarus of committing “terrorism” over its role in an escalating deadly border row between the two countries.
Some 2,000 migrants fleeing war, persecution, and poverty, including women and children, remain trapped between Polish and Belarusian forces in freezing temperatures.
Morawiecki says Belarus is seeking a military confrontation by inviting migrants to enter the European Union’s pressure illegally. Brussels claims Belarus uses migrants as “weapons” to destabilize the EU.
It says Minsk wants to punish the EU for imposing sanctions against the regime of autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko over its poor human rights record.
Morawiecki has also accused Russia, a Belarus ally, of supporting the migrant influx as it too faces EU sanctions, charges Moscow denies.
Some 12,000 additional troops were sent to the borders of Poland, a member state of both the EU and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, authorities said.
Nearby Baltic states are also concerned with Lithuania announcing an overnight state of emergency at its borders.
Border conflicts are also rapidly escaping in the Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the United States tries to prevent a war amid regional frustration with the EU’s efforts.
Belarus has trained Afghan and Iraqi war veterans to carry out armed attacks on the Polish border, a former regime insider has warned.
"The migration crisis is being used by [Belarus president Alexander] Lukashenko to insert into EU territory people who have [military] experience and who additionally undertook training on Belarusian territory to realise terrorist acts," Pavel Latushka, Belarus' former ambassador to France and Poland and former culture minister, told EUobserver.
1 comment:
Hmmm...Poland - WWII began, Balkans - WWI began.
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