News from the borders of Belarus has come to resemble updates from a war zone. Yet it’s not a military conflict that has erupted here. Instead, the country’s borders have become ground zero for two conflicts that were once separate: the European Union’s fraught relationship with the dictatorial Belarusian regime – and Europe’s migration crisis.
Belarus had already achieved pariah status after President Lukashenka’s brutal suppression of post-election protests in autumn last year. But the country’s relationship with the European Union and neighbouring states to the west and north broke down completely earlier this year after it forcibly landed a Ryanair plane carrying a dissident.
Meanwhile, people from Iraq and Afghanistan, but also Syria and Yemen, have sought to cross from Belarus into Poland, Latvia and Lithuania – with clear signs of state support from the Belarusian authorities. In response, Belarus’s neighbours have increased border security, refused entry to people seeking to cross and brought in further restrictions on migration and asylum legislation.
