Belarusian border guards “dump” group of illegal migrants in Ukraine

A group of illegal migrants, delivered to the border by Belarusian border guards, has been detained at the northern border of Ukraine. 

Source: State Border Service of Ukraine

Quote: "The Republic of Belarus keeps supporting an artificially created migration crisis and intentionally creating conditions for migrants to attempt crossing the border illegally. 

Ukrainian border guards have been preparing for these types of provocations in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies since last year, even though the EU countries are suffering from it the most. It has been pointed out multiple times that the neighbouring country can direct loads of migrants towards Ukraine at any time.

It is noteworthy that Belarusian border guards and law enforcement officers encourage migrants to travel illegally."

Details: The detainment of the group of illegal migrants from South-East Asia at Ukraine’s state border has been reported.

While carrying out their duties, border guards noticed a series of footprints which led from the territory of Belarus. They subsequently located and detained six foreigners. As was discovered later, they were citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

The detained men have said that they were transferred over the territory of Belarus to the border with Ukraine in a car by people in military uniforms; they assume those were representatives of the Border Service of the Republic of Belarus. Then, those officials gave the migrants directions. 

Moreover, while in Belarus, the migrants were in contact with law enforcement officers who organised their illegal route and ordered them to call and report their location after they illegally crossed the state border into Ukraine. 

This information was confirmed by examining messages from the foreigners’ phones. According to the migrants, they previously tried to get into Poland with the help of Belarusian law enforcement officers, but did not succeed.

Quote: "But the migrants did not have a long trip; as soon as they illegally crossed the border, they were detained by the Ukrainian border guards. 

At the moment, appropriate verification measures are being carried out; all the circumstances of this attempt to illegally cross the border as well as who contributed to this trip are being determined."

Background:

• In autumn 2021, a crisis occurred at the Polish-Belarusian border, as members of Belarusian law enforcement agencies pushed thousands of migrants towards the Polish border. The migrants tried to storm the Polish border several times.
• National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (the NSDC) discussed Ukraine’s response to the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border. Ukraine boosted its protection of the border with Belarus, recruiting an additional 8,500 military and police personnel. 
• The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine surmised that Belarus could have used migrants as a weapon against Ukraine. 

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