Krystsina Tsimanouskaya saga: Poland says Belarus using migrants as ‘living weapons’ in retaliation for asylum offer

Name: Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrives in Poland on humanitarian visa
Uploaded: 2021-08-05T18:23:04.000Z
Duration: 3 min 49 s
Description: Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrives in Poland on humanitarian visa

Poland detained at least 133 migrants at border with Belarus between Wednesday and Thursday, more than in the whole of last year

Illegal crossings are part of Lukashenko’s ‘hybrid war’ against the EU, says Polish deputy interior minister

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Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya speaks during a press conference in Warsaw after arriving in Poland on Wednesday evening. Photo: DPA

Reuters

Published: 2:23am, 6 Aug 2021Updated: 8:37pm, 6 Aug 2021

Poland accused Belarus of sending a growing number of migrants over the border in retaliation for Warsaw’s decision this week to give refuge to Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, a Belarusian athlete who refused to return home from the Tokyo Olympics.

A deputy interior minister, Maciej Wasik, said on Thursday that Minsk was “waging a hybrid war with the European Union with the help of illegal immigrants”.

In recent weeks, neighbour and fellow EU member state Lithuania has reported a surge in illegal border crossings from Belarus and said Minsk was flying in migrants from abroad and dispatching them into the EU.

“There are both young men and women with children. Belarus is using these immigrants as a living weapon,” Wasik told online broadcaster Telewizja wPolsce. “In recent days we have seen an increase [in migrants]. We treat it as a reaction to the granting of asylum to the Belarusian sprinter.”

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Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrives in Poland on humanitarian visa

Tsimanouskaya’s Cold War-style defection has ratcheted up Western tensions with Minsk at a time when the EU has accused President Alexander Lukashenko of using migrants to hit back against EU sanctions.