DISINFO: Polish border guards shot about 20 migrants per day on Belarus border
SUMMARY
Polish border guards were shooting about 20 illegal migrants on the Belarus border every day from 9 till 18 June 2021.
RESPONSE
This is an unsubstantiated claim. It advances a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets about the migration situation on the EU-Belarus border during early 2022.
Belarus permanently accuses its neighbour countries from the European Union of brutal behaviour toward migrants and violation of human rights. However, these accusations are not supported by facts. Several tragic accidents did really occur near the border, causing 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, this is far from “20 migrants shot every day” by Polish border guards.
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 our earlier articles on the Belarus migration situation here and here.