DISINFO: Polish border guards killed thousands of illegal migrants
SUMMARY
During the migration crisis, Poland killed hundreds and even thousands of illegal migrants. Polish border guards are crueller than Medieval barbarians. They are hunting people.
RESPONSE
Disinformation related to the migration situation at the EU - Belarus border.
In 2021, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia faced an influx of irregular migrants arriving via Belarus. Earlier, Belarus had terminated cooperation with the EU to stem illegal migration. This was Lukashenka's answer to the European Union sanctions against the political regime of Belarus (read more about sanctions here).
Belarus permanently accuses her neighbour countries of brutal behaviour toward migrants and violation of human rights. However, these accusations are not supported by facts. It is true that there were several tragic accidents near the border that caused the death of some migrants. At the end of 2021, the number of migrants that had died during this crisis ranged from 13 to 21 (see information here and here). In any case, there are no “hundreds and thousands” of dead migrants.
There is plenty of evidence that the Belarusian authorities have instigated the ongoing migration crisis in Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. Lukashenka's regime is using migrants from the Middle East as "political and hybrid" tools against Lithuania and the entire EU.
The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the situation on the EU-Belarusian border is not a bilateral issue of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus but a hybrid attack against the whole EU. The vice-president of the European Commission and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy (HRVP) Josep Borrell stressed that responsibility for the migration crisis falls on the Lukashenka regime.
See related cases of disinformation: Lithuania and Poland should end their mockery of the migrants; A sea of unknown migrants’ graves is located at the Polish border; Poland blasts poison on migrants.