Belarus-Poland border crisis traps thousands in ‘catastrophic’ conditions

Thousands of people are stranded at the border between Poland and Belarus in terrible conditions, trapped at the center of an intensifying geopolitical dispute.

The migrants — most of whom are from the Middle East and Asia, and who are hoping to travel on from Poland deeper into Europe — have been gathering on the Belarusian side of the Kuznica border crossing. Authorities closed the crossing on Tuesday, with aerial footage showing large crowds congregating in the area.

Here are key things to know about the situation:

Read more about how the crisis is unfolding here.

Belarusian servicemen guard an area as migrants gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, on Friday.

Belarus Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said that the Belarusian side was doing everything possible to reduce the flow of migrants. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus to journalists on Friday, Belarus state media BelTA reports.

The Belarus foreign minister stressed that no international laws were violated, and visas are issued only to those who apply based on the rules that exist.

According to Makei, in a situation when four packages of sanctions were introduced against Belarus, the country had to shift all its efforts to protect the border mainly from external threats such as those related to the smuggling of drugs and weapons. 

“In this situation, of course, the level of security of the border, through no fault of ours, has certainly objectively decreased. But I repeat once again, this was the result of absolutely irresponsible and thoughtless steps that were initiated by the European Union,” said Vladimir Makei as cited by BelTA.

According to BelTA, the Belarus foreign minister called the accusations against Belarus of organizing a targeted flow of migrants to Poland and the Baltic countries a “blatant and groundless lie.” 

“The fact that they are trying to accuse Belarus of allegedly organized delivery of migrants through its territory is an absolutely blatant and groundless lie. There is not a single proof,” said Vladimir Makei, BelTA reports.

Amnesty International has criticized the United Kingdom’s decision to send soldiers to Poland to help reinforce the Polish-Belarusian border fence, while migrants and refugees there face a humanitarian crisis.

According to Valdez-Symonds, the move by the UK will encourage other countries to “go back on their obligations to provide asylum, gravely endanger the lives of people at borders and profit nobody but those who will exploit these people and those who sell fences.”

Some context: A UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson told CNN on Friday that a team of Armed Forces members were being sent to Poland to “provide engineering support” on the Belarus border, which Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak appeared to confirm, saying that the British engineering troops would help strengthen the border fence.

More than 10 tons of humanitarian aid were delivered on Friday to a refugee camp on the Belarus border with Poland, Belarus state media BelTA reports.

According to BelTA, the assistance was supplied by the Belarusian Red Cross, several organizations and enterprises, public and political associations.

BelTA notes that new groups of refugees are continuing to arrive at the camp.

Iraq has temporarily suspended Belarus’ consular license and is halting all direct flights to the country, its foreign ministry said on Friday.

The actions are being taken to prevent Iraqi migrants from getting visas to or landing in Belarus, foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed al-Sahaf told CNN.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said on Friday it was monitoring for any escalation in the situation on its members’ borders with Belarus, after Belarusian and Russian paratroopers held joint drills near Poland.

NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance condemned Belarus for its actions targeting member countries Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and called on it to respect human rights.

The Belarusian defense ministry said the drills were “in connection with the buildup of military activity near the state border of the Republic of Belarus.”

Turkish Airlines planes are parked at the Istanbul Airport on November 8.

Turkey has suspended ticket sales to Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni citizens wanting to travel to Belarus, which has become a focal point for migrants and refugees seeking to reach Europe in recent months.

The move, which was announced by the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority on Friday, comes after pressure from the European Union on international carriers, such as Turkish Airlines, to stop bringing people from the Middle East to Minsk, the Belarusian capital.

The European Commission said on Friday that talks with Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates to try to halt migrants who they say are being encouraged by Belarus to travel to the bloc were already showing fruit. Belarus has denied any wrongdoing.

The bloc continues to work “very closely with the airline sector to prevent the trafficking and smuggling of people to the border region in Belarus,” an EU Commission spokesperson told reporters Friday in a press briefing in Brussels. “Iraqi Airlines has confirmed that it will not resume flights to Minsk and Turkish Airlines will also suspend sales of one way tickets to Minsk from Turkey.”

EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas welcomed the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority’s decision at a press briefing in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday.

In this still taken from video released by the Belarusian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, Russian paratroopers jump from helicopters during a joint military exercise near the Poland-Belarus border.

Russia and Belarus flexed their military might for a third time this week near the Poland-Belarus border, where thousands of people are stranded in deplorable conditions, trapped at the center of an intensifying humanitarian and geopolitical crisis.

On Friday, Russia and Belarus held joint paratrooper drills near Poland, exercises the Belarusian defense ministry said were “in connection with the buildup of military activity near the state border of the Republic of Belarus.”

Some 15,000 Polish soldiers have been deployed to Poland’s border with Belarus in recent days in reaction to a tense standoff that the European Union, the United States and NATO say is of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s making.

Western leaders, including prime ministers of neighboring Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, are accusing the Lukashenko regime of manufacturing a migrant crisis on the EU’s eastern frontier as retribution for sanctions over human rights abuses.

Lukashenko’s government has repeatedly denied such claims, instead blaming the West for the crossings and treatment of migrants.

Trapped in the crossfire are upwards of 2,000 people stuck between Poland and Belarus who are now facing conditions the United Nations has called “catastrophic,” with desperate scenes of hunger and hypothermia playing out in freezing forests and at makeshift camps at the border.

Russia, Belarus’ largest (and most important) political and economic partner, continues to defend Minsk’s handling of the border crisis while also denying any involvement in it.

Read more about the crisis here:

A group of migrants moves along the Belarusian-Polish border towards a camp to join those gathered at the spot and aiming to enter EU member Poland, in the Grodno region on November 12, 2021.

Related article Russia and Belarus hold military drills as migrant crisis on EU border grows

The United Kingdom will send a team of Armed Forces members to “provide engineering support” to Poland on the Belarus border, a UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson told CNN on Friday.

Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak appeared to confirm the news on social media, tweeting: “Reconnaissance began before the support of the British engineering troops. Our soldiers will strengthen in strengthening the fence on the Polish-Belarusian border. After the reconnaissance is completed, we will inform you about the details.”

Polish authorities have accused Belarusian authorities of using green lasers in attempt to blind Polish officers and soldiers, a claim that Belarus has denied.

Poland’s Border Guard on Friday tweeted a video purportedly showing the green laser beams coming from the Belarusian side. 

Meanwhile, the Belarusian State Border Committee, in a statement published on Friday, said without presenting further evidence the Polish Ministry of Defense was publishing video alongside provocative messages and that Polish officials had harassed and ignored migrants seeking asylum on Polish territory.

Both sides have accused each other of spreading misinformation. Poland declared a state of emergency that has effectively barred journalists from working in the regions bordering Belarus, while Polish officials have released extensive video footage they claim shows Belarusian security forces using migrants as “propaganda material.”

A Polish military helicopter lands next to troops near migrants gathering at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, on Friday, November 12.

Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said Friday that the country had a right to defend itself from illegal border crossings, hitting back against criticisms from advocacy group Human Rights Watch for leaving migrants in limbo and facing dire conditions.

In response, Polish MFA spokesperson Łukasz Jasina tweeted: “Illegal border crossing is prohibited everywhere in the world. Poland has the right to defend its border and decide who it allows and who does not.”

Chilly temperatures along the Poland-Belarus border are a few degrees above average but colder air will move over the area next week, worsening the already dire conditions for thousands of migrants trapped in the region.

Average high temperatures in the region this time of year are around 4°C (40°F) with average lows near freezing – 0°C (32°F).

A colder air mass will move in from the northeast approaching the border early next week, with the coldest temperatures of this event expected on Tuesday. Highs will just edge above freezing with overnight lows around -3°C (26°F).

Gusty winds will make it feel even colder. It will feel like below freezing for about 48 straight hours from Monday to Wednesday.

This cold spell will remain dry, with showers moving into the region late in the week along with slightly warmer temperatures.

Migrants gather to receive humanitarian aid in a camp on the Belarus-Poland border on November 12.

CNN’s Matthew Chance has gained exclusive access inside a makeshift migrant camp at Bruzgi, at the Belarusian border with Poland.

Walking through a crowd that’s swelled to some 2,000 people in recent days, Chance detailed harrowing scenes of hunger and despair.

People are starving and desperate for firewood, he said, and are scrambling to get fires lit before the sun goes down to avoid hypothermia.

CNN also documented chaotic scenes at a food distribution area. As the Belarusian Red Cross tried to hand out food aid, Belarusian security forces were pushing crowds back. Around 200 children and 600 women are trapped at the border, according to authorities.

Chance explained that people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria and Iraq had come to Belarus with the expressed purpose of moving deeper into Europe and of trying to find a better life. But inside the camp, there’s a bitter sense of disappointment that isn’t happening.

Meanwhile, more people keep arriving. Belarusian authorities told Chance that the number of migrant arrivals to the border could swell to 10,000 in the upcoming weeks – if the standoff continues.

WATCH CNN’s Matthew Chance report from the Belarusian border here:

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03:55 - Source: cnn

Vice President Kamala Harris briefs reporters in Paris, on Friday, November 12.

Vice President Kamala Harris says the US is “very concerned” about the situation at Poland’s border with Belarus. 

“We are very concerned and closely paying attention to it,” Harris said at a press conference in Paris Friday, “and the Lukashenko regime I believe is engaged in very troubling activity.” 

She added she had discussed the issue during her meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. “The eyes of the world and its leaders are watching,” Harris said. 

An Iraqi migrant has lost her unborn child in Belarus near the border with Poland, the Belarus Health Ministry said in a statement Thursday. 

The head of the main department for organizing medical care at the Ministry of Health, Aleksey Shcherbinsky, told reporters Thursday that a pregnant Iraqi woman from a refugee camp was taken to a hospital in the Grodno region of Belarus, according to the statement, posted to the Ministry’s official Telegram channel. 

“Unfortunately, despite all the actions taken, the specialists failed to save the baby: intrauterine fetal death was diagnosed. The woman herself is in a stable condition and receives all the necessary assistance,” Shcherbinsky said.

Over the past 24 hours, Shcherbinsky said Thursday, 18 people from the camp turned to hospitals and clinics for medical help.

The patients were aged between 10 and 70 years old, Shcherbinsky said, and added “about 20 ambulance teams have already been sent out.” 

“Undoubtedly, violations of the sanitary and epidemiological conditions in which refugees find themselves carry additional risks of both infectious and non-infectious diseases,” said Shcherbinsky.

Talks initiated by the European Union between airlines and transit nations playing a role in transporting people to Belarus are starting to yield results, Germany said.

“The talks are ongoing and today some indications show that we already have some success,” Germany’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Andrea Sasse said Friday.

The EU and other Western powers have accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of creating a migrant crisis on the eastern edge of the bloc as retribution for sanctions over human rights abuses. Lukashenko’s government has repeatedly denied such claims, instead blaming the West for the crossings and poor treatment of migrants.

Sasse’s comments follow an announcement from Turkey, who said in a tweet earlier on Friday that they would ban Syrian, Iraqi and Yemeni citizens from flying from Turkish airports to Belarus.

EU Council President Charles Michel replied to the tweet, saying “thank you” for the “support and cooperation.” 

Some background: On Thursday, the EU said it was looking into the legal means to extend sanctions against Belarus, including blacklisting airlines transporting migrants to Belarus who later were attempting to cross the EU border. 

Earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the border crisis a “challenge to the whole of the European Union.”

“This is not a migration crisis. This is the attempt of an authoritarian regime to try to destabilize its democratic neighbours. This will not succeed,” she said.

As the humanitarian crisis on the border worsens, a group of residents in the eastern Polish town of Michalowo have decided to step in to help people who have managed to cross the frontier into the European Union.

Maria Ancipiuk, a Michalowo city council representative, told CNN that they created a “helping point” at a local fire station to assist “all people in need.”

Migrants can rest with a warm cup of tea and food at the center – which is located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border. Basic medical aid and food supplies are also available, Ancipiuk said.

The center, which was opened on October 4 in response to the situation on the border, has received donations from people around Poland and abroad. It also provides supplies to organizations that are helping people stuck on the border.

Ancipiuk said that the center also had a good relationship with the local Border Guards unit, who they donated food and clothes to.

“The helping point was created to help all people in need,” Ancipiuk said.

The center is open day and night, and is staffed solely by volunteers from the community. Volunteers are also teaming up with local hospitals to help fill any gaps in services there too, donating food, medication and clothes to injured migrants.

Russia and Belarus are flexing their military might for a second time this week as they hold joint paratrooper drills near the Polish border on Friday.

The exercises are being held “in connection with the buildup of military activity near the State Border of the Republic of Belarus,” according to a statement from the Belarusian Defense Ministry

Some 15,000 Polish soldiers have been deployed to Poland’s border with Belarus recently, in reaction to the tense standoff there.

“Today, joint tactical airborne paratroopers from the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Airborne Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as part of a combined battalion tactical group are landing at the Gozhsky training ground,” the statement said.

Belarusian and Russian paratroopers will perform a number of combat training tasks, it added.

Russia, Belarus’ largest (and most important) political and economic partner, has defended Minsk’s handling of the border crisis while also denying any involvement in it.

On Wednesday, Russian and Belarusian forces performed joint military exercises over Belarus airspace.

The two long-range Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic long-range bombers practiced “issues of interaction with ground control points” with armed forces of both countries, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is also scaling up security around border with Belarus. On Thursday, it announced it would hold military drills with some 8,500 servicemen and 15 helicopters in an area near its borders with Poland and Belarus to counter a potential migrant crisis.

Some wider context: The crisis at the Poland-Belarus border is continuing to test a fragile political order, with allegations from the United States on Russia’s military buildup this week deepening concerns over the potential for a wider geopolitical crisis.

On Wednesday the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US is “concerned by reports of unusual Russian military activity” and mentioned the possibility that Russia may be “attempting to rehash” its 2014 invasion of Ukraine. 

On Friday, Russia called allegations that it could invade Ukraine “empty, groundless escalation of tensions.”

Russia has guaranteed its supply of gas to Europe despite Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s threats to block it, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

“Russia has been, is, and will be a country that honors its commitments to ensure European consumers with gas and to fulfil all its contractual obligations,” Peskov said.

“[The] reliability of Russia as a [gas] supplier and as a contract partner is not subject to any doubt.”

On Thursday, Lukashenko threatened to block Europe’s gas transit through Belarus should the European Union introduce new sanctions on Minsk.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on Friday, November 12.

“They are threatening that they will close the border … And what if we stop the transit of natural gas there?” Lukashenko said Thursday, adding: “The Foreign Ministry must warn everyone in Europe: if only they introduce additional sanctions against us, unacceptable and undigestable to us, we must retaliate.”

Lukashenko’s statements have not been discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Peskov said.

When asked if Moscow will ensure the gas supply regardless of Belarusian actions, Peskov said: “Absolutely. Russia is a country guaranteeing the energy security of the European continent.”

Russia is Europe’s main gas supplier, accounting for 41% of its imports.

Poland has accused the Belarusian regime of using migrants as propaganda tools, amping up a war of words as the humanitarian and geopolitical crisis on their border continues.

“Migrants are used as instruments by the Lukashenka regime. In the Kuźnica area, a group of women and children was moved to the fence, only so that the Belarusian services could prepare propaganda material,” the Polish Ministry of Defense said in a tweet Friday.

Polish authorities also said Friday that 223 border crossing attempts had been made by migrants on Thursday from the Belarusian side.

The Polish Border Guard press office told CNN that out of those people, 18 were able to apply for international protection in Poland.

Over 4,500 people have tried to cross the border since the start of this month, it added.

The Polish Ministry of Defense shared a video on their official Twitter account on Friday, purportedly showing migrants crossing the Kuznica border crossing on the Belarusian side.

Poland is under fire by international aid organizations who say they are breaching international law by pushing asylum seekers back into Belarus, instead of accepting their applications for international protection. Poland stands by their actions, saying they are legal.

Who can seek international protection?

Under article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries.

Belarusian air carrier Belavia is banning citizens from Iraq, Syria and Yemen from boarding flights from Turkey to Belarus, according to an official statement published by the airline on Friday.

“In accordance with the decision of the competent authorities of Turkey, from November 12, 2021, citizens of Iraq, Syria, and Yemen will not be admitted on flights from Turkey to Belarus,” the statement said.

Some background: The European Union was reportedly considering sanctions against third-country airlines for allegedly contributing to the crisis on the Belarus-Poland border by transporting people to Minsk, the Belarusian capital. 

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry fought back against claims it was contributing to the crisis on Thursday. “We refuse to be portrayed as part of a problem which Turkey is not a party to,” the ministry said Thursday.

“Furthermore, we find it to be intentional that a globally prominent company like Turkish Airlines is targeted even though information on this issue is shared transparently,” the ministry added.

Russia has also denied any involvement in the refugee crisis in Europe or assisting people in getting into Belarus, saying that it “has nothing to do with what is happening on the border of Belarus and Poland.”

When asked to comment on possible sanctions against Russian airline Aeroflot for allegedly helping refugees travel into Belarus via Moscow on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the accusations, calling them “planted news.”

Peskov added that they had seen statements from Aeroflot demonstrating that it “did not provide and is not providing transportation of migrants to Minsk.”

The Kremlin spokesperson added that “even if some airlines are engaged in this, it in no way contradicts any international regulations.”

The situation at a refugee camp on the Belarus border with Poland is “catastrophic” and will be “even worse” in a day’s time, a representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said, following a visit to the area on Thursday.

“Something must be done. The supplies of humanitarian aid that we are bringing through Red Cross will continue for the next days,” Mulusew Mamo, UNHCR representative in Belarus said.  

Mamo was joined by representatives from the International Organization for Migration and the Belarusian Red Cross Society during the inspection, the Belarus State Border Committee said in a statement. 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a tweet that the “priorities now are to prevent loss of life and move people to safer locations in Belarus. We appreciate access and are ready to assist in finding solutions,” he said.

People fleeing war and conflict have been making their way to the Poland-Belarus border en masse for weeks, with 4,300 recorded border crossing attempts recorded this month alone, according to Polish authorities.

Migrants have described brutal journeys at the border, including beatings, drinking water from puddles, and sleeping in freezing conditions in the forest.

Read more here:

BELARUS - NOVEMBER 10: Irregular migrants continue to wait at the Polish-Belarusian border on November 10, 2021 in Belarus. Thousands of irregular migrants are facing desperate conditions as they continue waiting at the Polish-Belarusian border, hoping to cross onto EU soil. After crossing the Bruzgi border point in Grodno, Belarus on Monday, the immigrants â most of them from Iraq â came to the Polish border to spend Tuesday night. Nearly 2,000 immigrants, including many women and children, stayed in tents they set up in front of the border fences in the forested area. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Related article 'We drank from puddles': Migrants describe brutal journey through forests on Belarus-Poland border

Migrants sit by a fire near the Poland-Belarus border on Wednesday, November 10.

Thousands of people are trapped between two borders on Europe’s frontier, in conditions deemed “catastrophic” by the UNHCR.

The West has accused authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating a border crisis with Poland, using the migrants as a pawn in a political power play.

Lukashenko’s government has repeatedly denied such claims, instead blaming the West for the crossings and poor treatment of migrants.

Humanitarian groups are also accusing Poland’s ruling nationalists of violating the international law by pushing people back into Belarus, instead of accepting their applications for asylum. Poland says its actions are legal.

Here’s what else you need to know:

Migrants are trapped in terrible conditions: The situation at the border remains fluid, with at least 800 people currently camped out in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side of the closed Kuznica border crossing, Polish authorities told CNN on Friday. Hundreds more have been “transported to other places by Belarusian services,” they said.

A Polish border guard press officer told CNN that around 4,000 migrants were camped out along the border on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the Belarus State Border Committee reported Tuesday that there are about 2,000 refugees on the border line, including women and children, who are threatened by weather conditions and lack of food and water.

Most of the migrants are from the Middle East and Asia and are hoping to travel on from Poland deeper into Europe. They’ve been gathering on the Belarusian side of the Kuznica border crossing – which was shut on Tuesday – for weeks.

Russia stands by Belarus: Russia, Belarus’ largest (and most important) political and economic partner, has defended Minsk’s handling of the issue and has denied any involvement in the crisis.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Moscow “has nothing to do with what is happening on the border of Belarus and Poland.” And on Monday, Peskov said Belarus was taking all necessary measures to act legally.

Russia underlined its support for the Lukashenko regime by performing joint military exercises over Belarus airspace on Wednesday.

The two long-range Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic long-range bombers practiced “issues of interaction with ground control points” with armed forces of both countries, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

Poland’s government ramps up nationalist rhetoric: Polish President Andrzej Duda visited the border late on Thursday in a show of solidarity with the military, police and border guards. Earlier in the day, Duda addressed thousands of Poles who marched through Warsaw to celebrate Independence Day.

In a speech with nationalistic references in support of the government’s strict policy of keeping the border with Belarus closed to migrants, he said: “We have always been, we are and we will be part of a Europe based on Christian values, which are also the foundations of our tradition and culture.”

“The time has come when you need to defend your homeland. But we need to guard its borders more than before,” Duda said, adding: “It must be done with dedication, with sleepless nights, in coldness, in hardship, in a very ungrateful situation to which we were forced by the hybrid actions of the Belarusian regime against Poland and against the European Union.”

Ukraine beefs up its borders: Neighboring Ukraine said it will hold military drills in an area near its borders with Poland and Belarus to counter a potential migrant crisis on Thursday, with some 8,500 servicemen and police expected to participate in the exercises, along with military aircraft, including 15 helicopters.

The US and EU prep new Belarus sanctions: The White House’s National Security Council said Wednesday that the US is preparing “follow-up sanctions” designed to hold Belarusian leaders accountable for “ongoing attacks on democracy, human rights and international norms.” The spokesperson did not specify when the new measures would come into place. This is the second round of sanctions announced by the US in recent months.

Germany’s acting Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told German parliament on Thursday that the EU had decided to “expand and tighten its sanctions against Lukashenko’s regime” at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels.