Belarus Migration ‘Hybrid War’ Is Greatest Attempt to Destabilise Europe Since Cold War, Says Polish PM

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called on Western allies for solidarity to “defend Europe” against the mass migration “hybrid warfare” being waged by Belarus — declared the “greatest attempt to destabilise Europe” since the Cold War — defiantly declaring that “Poland will not yield to blackmail and will do everything to stop the evil threatening Europe”.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki shared a video statement on social on Sunday, saying that the attempts to force a new migrant crisis on Europe coming from the Belarusian border — widely believed in Brussels to be orchestrated by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime — is “the greatest attempt to destabilise Europe in 30 years”.

During the Polish state-produced video entitled “We Defend Europe”, Prime Minister Morawiecki warned: “Europe, our common home, is threatened. At this very moment, a hybrid war is taking place on the Polish-Belarusian border which Alexander Lukashenko, with the backroom support of Vladimir Putin, has declared against the entire European Union.

“From a distance, these events may look like an ordinary migration crisis, but they are not. This is a political crisis created for a special purpose. The objective is to destabilise the situation in Europe first time since the end of the Cold War, 30 years ago.”

Several European Union political figures including European Commissioner Ylva Johansson and politicians from Finland, Poland, and the Baltic states accuse Lukashenko of flying migrants from the Middle East to Minsk before transporting them to the borders of Europe in an attempt to destabilise the European Union.

In a stunning admission, Lukashenko told the BBC in an interview last week that it is “perfectly possible” his forces are helping Middle Eastern migrants get to Poland, but said, “I won’t even look into this”.

Poland’s prime minister said that he had evidence of the Lukashenko government’s involvement in manufacturing the migrant crisis, saying: “Over the weeks, we have provided ample evidence that it is the Belarusian regime that is bringing migrants to the border in order to transport these people, then, to Western Europe. Today, the target is Poland, but tomorrow it will be Germany, Belgium, France, or Spain.”

Mr Morawiecki warned “Lukashenko’s and Putin’s pressure is already being felt throughout Europe” in terms of the rising energy prices, “caused by the drastic reduction of gas supplies to European countries”.

“This is just the beginning. The dictators will not stop. I want to assure you, Poland will not yield to blackmail and will do everything to stop the evil threatening Europe,” he said.

Continuing to channel the language of his Hungarian counterpart and ally Viktor Orbán — who pledged after the first migrant crisis coming from the Balkans to protect Europe from mass migration with its border policies —  that his country has been protecting Europe and will continue to do so from its latest threat, the Polish leader said: “For centuries, Poland has been guarding our common home when invaders, tyrants — and later, totalitarian dictatorships — had to be confronted. We always stood in the front line.

“This was the Polish solidarity with other Free World countries, long before the European Union and NATO were born. But at the same time, I appeal to all the people of the Free World: Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia need your solidarity and support today, right now.”

Continuing: “We all know this one thing when someone tries to break into our home, we defend our home. This principle also applies to national borders — the borders of the European Union and NATO, our common home.

“Let us stand together, let us defend Europe.”

Prime Minister Morawiecki shared the strong remarks as he makes plans to hold talks with his counterparts in the Baltic — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Poland has responded robustly and with force against violent migrants attempting to illegally enter earlier this week, with reports from the Polish Border Guard on Friday saying that attempted breaches of the frontier were down.

But Poland anticipates that the crisis is far from over, with Morawiecki saying on Saturday. “Unfortunately, there are numerous signs suggesting that this geopolitical crisis will be continued for many months, even years.”