Migrants again break border for Poland
“Lukashenko asked Putin to provide Iskander missile systems”
Thousands of people are stuck in the border areas in the cold. And the political situation remains tense. Lukashenko has asked Putin for military aid. Also, an appraisal by Christoph Wanner on the Polish border.
According to police, two dozen migrants have crossed the border into Poland. Some have been arrested, all from Iraq. Another group tried to cross the border near Colonia Klukowicz.
IAccording to Polish police, a group of about 50 migrants broke a barrier along the border with Belarus and reached Poland. A police spokesman said on Sunday that the incident took place on Saturday evening near Dubikej Serkivne village.
The authorities initially arrested 22 Iraqis. A spokesman for the border guards said all the other migrants were arrested by border guards and soldiers shortly after. The entire group was brought back to the border in Belarus.
According to police, another large group tried to cross the border a short distance from the village of Kolonia Klukowicz – but to no avail. Refugees threw stones at officers, and one officer was slightly injured.
The police have also arrested four suspected smugglers traveling with the refugees in the border area. According to the information, these are two Georgians, one Polish and one Syrian. The information cannot be independently verified as Poland has declared a state of emergency in the border area. Journalists and assistants are not allowed inside. This also applies to the border area on the Belarusian border.
Seeing the crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin again offered help. Moscow is ready to contribute “in any way possible” to a solution, Putin said in an interview Russian state television broadcast on Sunday. A Kremlin spokesman announced last week that Russia wanted to get involved.
In the first aired part of the interview, Putin also expressed hope for talks between current Chancellor Angela Merkel and authoritarian Belarusian ruler Lukashenko.
In temperatures near freezing point, thousands of migrants have been waiting in temporary camps in the woods on the Belarusian border for several days. Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko is accused of systematically bringing refugees from troubled areas to the EU’s outer border.
Aid organizations demand access
The German Red Cross (DRK) and Polish charity WOSP have called for humanitarian aid for refugees who are in the border area between Poland and Belarus. The situation in the immediate border area is dramatic, with Gerda Hausfeld, president of the DRK, calling the “Redktionnetzwerk Deutschland”. People suffered from hypothermia and were exhausted.
There are believed to be 3,000 to 4,000 migrants in the region. The exact number does not exist as there is no direct access.
Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kreischmer (CDU) has spoken out against Germany accepting migrants stranded in the border area between Belarus and Poland. “We are not allowed to accept these migrants into the EU or Germany. If you so wished, they would not have to detour through Minsk, but could fly directly to Germany, said Kreischmer of “Bilde am Sonntag”.
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