Lithuania could ask other European Union countries for help in accommodating migrants / Article

On Monday, the head of the Lithuanian government, Ingrida Šimonīte, admitted that Lithuania may have to ask for help from other European Union member states to accommodate migrants who have recently arrived in large numbers from Belarus. These days, almost 400 migrants have already arrived in Lithuania; since the beginning of the year, the figure is more than 3,000.

“If we can’t cope, we will have to ask for help,” Šimonīte admitted. On Monday, she met with EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ilva Johansson, who is on a two-day visit to Lithuania to assess the situation.

Most migrants from Iraq

In a joint letter, Lithuanian President Gitan Nauseda and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, who holds the EU presidency, have addressed the leaders of other member states, calling attention to the growing tensions at Lithuania and the European Union’s border with Belarus, which are increasingly crossed by illegal migrants.

Šimonīte says that the European Union could also put pressure on the Iraqi government to stop the flow of migrants flowing through Belarus to Lithuania and further to Western Europe.

He travels from Iraq to Minsk every week at least two flights with several hundred passengers, and the experience so far shows that for many of them the main goal is not to visit the tourist attractions of Belarus, but to cross the Lithuanian border illegally to get to the European Union.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 3,000 migrants from Belarus have arrived in Lithuania. Among them, Iraqi citizens are the most numerous (2555), followed by people from Congo (191), Cameroon (129), Syria (124), Iran (91) and Russia (90), reports LRT.lt.

Another record

Lithuanian border guards acknowledge that the premises for accommodating migrants are overcrowded.

A record number of 289 illegal migrants were detained on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border on Sunday. A large influx of illegal migrants is also observed on Monday, and already in the first seven hours of the day, 109 people were detained, which suggests the next record.

According to Rustams Lubayev, the head of the Lithuanian Border Guard Service, the border guards are currently dealing with their direct duties and detaining migrants. There are problems with the accommodation of migrants. Lubayev added that border guards are on the verge of their capabilities and that the issue of relocation of migrants should be addressed in the near future.

Hybrid war methods

Lithuanian political scientist Bernard Ivanov, meanwhile, calls for a focus on addressing the causes of the crisis rather than the consequences. According to him, what is happening in Lithuania at the moment is not a “migrant crisis” such as that observed in Italy, Romania or Serbia, but a hybrid war attack on Lithuania, the European Union and NATO.

According to the political scientist, this hybrid war operation can be seen in the former Vladislav Surkov, Adviser to the President of Russia handwriting.

“We have no migrant crisis. This story has nothing to do with what happened on the island of Lampedusa. Surkov returned a few months ago. And there is no Minsk or Lukashenko here, it is the purest “surkovščina”. This is a long-standing plan that is now up and running. Surkov is a well-known character, he was the architect of the Novorossiya concept and the whole nightmare that happened in Ukraine.

Surkov’s handwriting is clearly visible here, but hybrid warfare methods are used instead of military ones. And the main question is how far they are ready to go, ”says political scientist Ivanov.

Putin wants to undermine NATO

“We must not give in. If we start looking for internal enemies in Lithuania that allegedly serve Lukashenko, then we will only facilitate the implementation of this plan. One thing is clear: Lithuania cannot solve this problem alone, neither a fence nor a wall will help here, ”Ivanovs believes.

He calls on Lithuania to cooperate more actively with the European Union and NATO.

“The European bureaucracy sees, but does not want to understand, the problem. They do not want to understand, because it is easiest to put your head in the sand. Our partners, who should help us, are not aware that this blow is not only directed against Lithuania, it is also directed against the eurozone, the common market, Article 5 of the NATO Treaty.

Putin’s main goal is to discredit NATO to show that NATO cannot help anyone. His goal is to destroy NATO as the main obstacle to achieving Russia’s geopolitical goals. ” in an interview with the radio station “LRT” concludes Ivanov.

CONTEXT:

In the summer of 2021 the number of migrants has increased significantly, which is trying to enter the territory of Lithuania from Belarus. Most migrants have come from Iraq.

Lithuanian officials believe that the Belarusian authorities deliberately does not constitute an obstacle to the crossing of the borderto punish Lithuania for supporting the Belarusian opposition and imposing sanctions on the Alexander Lukashenko regime. Lithuania describes such action as the spread of a hybrid war against the European Union.

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