Russia organises flights from the Middle East to Moscow, giving migrants access to the Belarusian and then EU borders, ministers from the Baltic region said during a hearing with MEPs on Monday (4 September).
People crossing the border reach the Belarusian capital of Minsk via train from Moscow and then they try to arrive in Poland, Lithuania or Latvia, Lithuanian Deputy Interior Minister Arnoldas Abramavičius explained during the hearing.
“Migrants reportedly arrived at the EU-Belarusian border via Belarus, from Russia,” added Monique Pariat, the European Commission’s migration and home affairs director general, noting that EU countries observed many people holding “Russian visas or entry stamps”.
According to data updated on 27 August by the EU executive, attempts to cross at the Belarus-EU borders increased by 62% compared to 2022, though numbers remain below 2021, when Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko pushed a large number of migrants to the border.
EU leaders to discuss stronger response on migration against Belarus backdrop
With EU leaders set to discuss migration and the situation at the EU’s eastern border with Belarus on Friday, Eastern Europeans are expected to ask for a review of the bloc’s legislation to reflect the ongoing crisis.
“Latvia and Lithuania have faced unprecedented illegal border crossings since 2021. These hybrid threats remain, and those two countries are doing their best to protect the EU border in 2023,” Pariat added.
Pariat said that people from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Belarus and Sri Lanka were most likely to make illegal border crossings.
Both Abramavičius and Igor Rajev, Latvian parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, said during the hearing that migrants represent a threat to their “national security” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin, together with Lukashenko, are seeking to destabilise the EU’s borders.
“This is a particular cruel form of hybrid war, in which innocent people are abused, deliberately deceiving them, and often targeting their health and even life [to destabilise] the border, demonstrating our countries and the EU as failed institutions, intimidating the local population and exploiting the weakness of the EU external border,” Rajev argued.
Most of the migrants, the two authorities said, do not want to remain in Latvia or Lithuania, but want to access other European countries.
In response, the Lithuanian parliament adopted a law that legalised the turning away of migrants at the border on the grounds of a state emergency.
Lithuania legalises migrant pushbacks
The Lithuanian parliament Seimas adopted a law on Tuesday (25 April) legalising the turning away of irregular migrants at the border under a state-level extreme situation regime or a state of emergency.
Some EU lawmakers attending the hearing warned that the new law could allow border guards to decide who can apply for asylum and who can be pushed back to Belarusian territory.
“This is not in accordance with the asylum procedure at the moment,” Green MEP Tineke Strik said.
According to international law, any people on EU soil have the right to apply for international protection, having its application assessed by national authorities.
Parier replied that before making any assessment it is necessary “to see how these laws will be implemented in practice”.
What the EU is doing
The European Union is aiming to approve a suite of legislative files on migration management before the end of the current legislative mandate next June.
These include the so-called screening regulation, which should help member states manage the reception of migrants entering the EU, with harmonised procedure of registration.
“The future screening regulation, once adopted, will set an obligation to member states to establish an independent monitoring mechanism to ensure the compliance with EU and international law, including the charter for for fundamental rights,” Pariat said.
The screening regulation is currently being negotiated by the Council and the European Parliament.
EU to start talks on migration reform laws
Members of the European Parliament of the civil liberties committee adopted their position on key migration files on Tuesday (28 March), inaugurating the beginning of inter-institutional negotiations between the European Parliament and EU ministers.
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
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