Refugee route from Minsk to Germany: “Our Foreign Minister has to act on this”

Daily Mirror Refugee route from Minsk to Germany: “Our Foreign Minister has to act on this” Article by Albrecht Meier • 5 hours According to federal police findings, airlines are transporting people with dubious visas from Turkey, Pakistan and Iraq to Belarus. The journey then continues to Germany. The police union expects Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) to take action in view of increased smuggling through the Belarusian capital Minsk. There are many reasons why the number of asylum applications in Germany is currently rising again: More people than last year are daring to make the dangerous escape across the Mediterranean, which in most cases starts in Tunisia and Libya. More refugees come via the Balkan route, which now leads via Poland. And then there is the route from Minsk towards the EU. The sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers entering Germany via the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic suggests that many refugees are deliberately being smuggled into the EU from Russia via Belarus via detours, said SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “We are experiencing a series of hybrid warfare on the part of Russia, in which refugees are being flown in and smuggled through directly from Syria and other crisis areas with the aim of destabilizing Europe,” Mützenich continued. The EU must threaten sanctions if visas are obtained by fraud using false information. Andreas Roßkopf, Chairman of the GdP Federal Police District The Federal Police had previously announced at the end of September that the increasing trend in the number of unauthorized entries into Germany continued in August. 14,701 such border crossings were registered by the federal police in August, 5,855 more entries than in the same month last year and almost 4,000 more than in July of this year. Related video: Immigration debate: Refugees come via these routes (ProSieben) Is there also a hybrid warfare behind the numbers by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and his ally Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko? According to information from the police union (GdP), this cannot be assessed. However, the Federal Police are aware that, as in 2021, airlines are again involved in transporting people with visas to study or work in Belarus, said the chairman of the GdP Federal Police District, Andreas Roßkopf, to the Tagesspiegel. The people in question then did not stay on site, but were sent further towards Germany, said Roßkopf. According to him, the airlines involved would primarily bring people from Turkey, Pakistan and Iraq to Belarus. The question arises as to whether the previously issued visa was issued using false information. “And of course we have to start there,” demanded Roßkopf. “The EU must threaten sanctions if visas are obtained fraudulently using false information,” he demanded. Such an approach brought tangible results two years ago. At that time, in addition to the Belarusian state airline Belavia, other airlines were also involved in smuggling people seeking protection into Belarus. The EU threatened, among other things, sanctions against the Turkish airline Turkish Airlines. The government in Ankara then announced that Turkey would no longer allow people from Syria, Iraq and Yemen to fly from its territory to Belarus. At that time, acting Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) also spoke out in favor of sanctions against individual airlines. With regard to his successor Annalena Baerbock (Greens), Roßkopf said: “Our Foreign Minister has to act.” It remained unclear at the time to what extent the Belarusian ruler Lukashenko acted on his own account in the 2021 smuggling operations or was under Putin's influence. In any case, the chairman of the European Committee in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter, says: “Unfortunately, it is known that autocrats like Putin try to exploit people on the run.” It is “absolutely reprehensible” to abuse people who are fleeing their homes from war and hunger for their own interests, the Green politician told the Tagesspiegel. “It is in Putin’s interest to destabilize the EU.” If more people now come to Germany via the Minsk route, Hofreiter believes the EU should not respond “by further deteriorating the already problematic asylum system in Europe.” The controversial crisis regulation, which is intended to allow asylum seekers to stay longer under prison-like conditions at the EU's external borders under certain conditions, would respond to Russia's policy with “inhumane measures”.