Nato ‘remains vigilant’ over Poland border migrant crisis after Belarus, Russia paratroopers hold joint drills

Nato is looking out for any escalation in the situation on its members’ borders with Belarus, after Belarusian and Russian paratroopers staged joint drills near the Polish and Lithuanian borders. The drills came during the stand-off between Belarus and the EU over thousands of migrants camped in freezing forests at the frontier. “We will remain vigilant against the risk of further escalation and provocation by Belarus at its borders with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, and will continue to monitor the implications for the security of the alliance,” the North Atlantic Council, representing the alliance’s member states, said in a statement on Friday. “NATO allies call on Belarus to cease these actions, to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to abide by international law.” The EU has accused Belarus of mounting a “hybrid attack” on the bloc by flying in thousands of migrants, mainly from the Middle East, and pushing them to try to cross illegally into EU-member Poland in retaliation for sanctions. It is gearing up to impose new sanctions on Minsk. Earlier on Friday it emerged that citizens from Syria, Yemen and Iraq would no longer be allowed to buy flight tickets from Turkey to Minsk amid the migrant stand-off, Turkey’s Civil Aviation General Directorate (SHGM) said. Belarus’s state-run airline said it had banned Syrians, Iraqis and Yemenis from incoming flights from Turkey at Ankara’s request. Turkey and its flag-carrier Turkish Airlines have been accused of contributing to the migrant flow, an accusation it has rejected. “In relation to the illegal border crossing problem between the European Union and Belarus, it has been decided for citizens from Iraq, Syria and Yemen wanting to travel to Belarus from our country’s airports not to be sold tickets and not to be allowed on planes,” the SHGM said on Twitter. In a statement to citizens of Iraq, Syria and Yemen posted on its website, Belarus airline Belavia said they would not be allowed on flights from Turkey to Belarus as of November 12 “in accordance with the decision of competent authorities in Turkey”. Thousands of migrants have been trying to cross from Belarus into Poland for months, but tensions soared this week as coordinated efforts to cross were rebuffed. They set up a camp on the border, sheltering in tents and burning wood from local forests to keep warm, blocked by Polish guards behind razor-wire. Vladimir Putin vows to back Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko Sanctions against Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko came in response to a crackdown on the opposition in the wake of 2020 presidential elections and his decision to ground a Ryanair flight this year over Belarus to detain an activist. A long-standing ally of Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told the EU to start talking to Belarus if it wants to resolve the crisis and sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers on a training mission over Belarus for a second straight day in a strong show of Moscow’s support. The Belarusian Defence Ministry said two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers practised bombing runs at the Ruzany firing range, located in Belarus about 60km (just over 37 miles) east of the border with Poland. Lukashenko called the Russian bomber flights a necessary response to the tensions on the Belarus-Poland border. “Let them scream and squeak. Yes, those are nuclear-capable bombers, but we have no other choice,” the president, who has been in office since 1994, said. Poland warns of ‘armed’ escalation as migrants aided by Belarus try to storm border He has warned that any new sanctions could see Minsk cut off natural gas transit to Europe. After an emergency meeting on Thursday at the UN Security Council on the crisis the US and European delegations condemned “the orchestrated instrumentalisation of human beings whose lives and well-being have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus”. Minsk is aiming at “destabilising neighbouring countries and the European Union’s external border and diverting attention away from its own increasing human rights violations,” they said in a joint statement. Poland has deployed 15,000 troops along its border, put up a fence topped with barbed wire and approved construction of a wall on the frontier with Belarus. In a statement released for Poland’s Independence Day on Thursday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his country was facing a “new kind of war” whose “ammunition is civilians”.

Nato ‘remains vigilant’ over Poland border migrant crisis after Belarus, Russia paratroopers hold joint drills

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Thousands of people trapped in freezing conditions as stand-off continues Belarus’ Lukashenko accused of bringing them in, to send them on to Europe

Thousands of people trapped in freezing conditions as stand-off continues

Belarus’ Lukashenko accused of bringing them in, to send them on to Europe