Seething from constant EU provocations, sanctions, threats and failed attempts to overthrow Europe’s most popular president, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko is opening the gate of Europe in a tit-for-tat riposte at Brussels and Warsaw.

Belarus insists it has just opted to abandon its efforts to stop migrants, mainly originating from the Middle East, from trying to reach the EU, and that it has moved to tear up previous agreements requiring it to re-accept those deported from the EU for entering illegally. It made these decisions in response to a new round of EU sanctions against Belarus.

The situation with migrants on the Belarus-Poland border has deteriorated in recent days, with thousands of people seeking asylum in Europe camping there in the hope of being allowed in by Poland.

Polish forces have used tear gas against refugees and have deployed military hardware near the refugee camp; shots were heard in the area, the Belarusian Border Committee said on Tuesday.

It also believes that the closure of the Kuznica checkpoint on the Polish side could have been caused by Warsaw’s attempt to conceal the use of weapons against the refugees.

Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for the border committee in Poland’s Podlaskie region, Katarzyna Zdanovich, said that Polish border guards periodically hear shots on the Belarusian side. She also claimed that Belarus was building up military forces on the border amid the migration crisis.

‘We are monitoring the situation from the air. We are observing soldiers there. There are more and more of them,’ spokeswoman Katarzyna Zdanowicz told reporters.

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On Monday, the Belarusian State Border Committee reported that a large group of refugees from Asia and Africa were heading to the border with Poland.

The ministry said that the situation with refugees on the border with Poland remained extremely tense. More than 2,000 refugees, including a significant number of women and children, have stopped in front of the Polish barriers on the borderline. Polish security forces have refused to let them through, and migrants have been making attempts to overcome the barriers since then.

BREAKING NOVEMBER 9 MORNING: Minsk: Polish forces have deployed military equipment in front of a camp of Kurdish refugees at the Polish-Belarusian border and they psychologically pressure them, the Belarusian border committee said on Tuesday.

‘At the moment, Polish security forces have lined up in front of the refugee camp, equipment, including military equipment, has been pulled together,’ the committee wrote on its Telegram channel.

The committee mentioned that the health of some migrants has deteriorated after the use of tear gas by Polish forces. To exert psychological pressure on the refugees, the Polish military turned on loudspeakers, searchlights, strobe lights for the whole night. Shots were also heard from the adjacent territory,’ the committee added.

The closure of the Kuznica checkpoint by Poland may be caused by Warsaw’s desire to conceal the use of force against refugees, according to Minsk.

‘In the absence of objective reasons for the closure of the Polish checkpoint Kuznica, it is possible that this decision was made by the Polish side to exclude video recording by casual witnesses and not to make the facts of the use of force and weapons by the Polish military against refugees public,’ the committee said.

The Kremlin is concerned over the situation on the Belarusian-Polish border and hopes that it will not escalate and threaten Russia’s security, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. In a veiled attempt to suggest Russia might be reigning in the rebellious Belarus president, Peskov added:

‘We see that Belarusian specialists are working responsibly. We hope that in no way this will take a form that will pose a threat to our security,’ Peskov told reporters, adding that Moscow and Minsk are in regular contact.

The Kremlin spokesman also said that the most important is the life and health of people when commenting on the attempt of migrants to cross the Belarusian-Polish border.
‘The situation is undoubtedly tense, alarming – this requires responsible behaviour of all parties involved,’ Peskov added. Source, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4