When Belarus moved to sever its ties with the European Union this week, recalling its envoy to Brussels and suspending participation in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program, the move was purportedly a response to the harsh sanctions the bloc recently imposed on Minsk.
But in reality, it was the latest stage in the low-intensity campaign of hostile actions being waged by Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s authoritarian regime against Belarus’s European neighbors.
In an interview on June 27, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite accused Belarusian officials of orchestrating a surge of migrants from Iraq, Iran, and Syria into Europe via Belarus, calling the effort a “well-organized” plan and a form of hybrid warfare.
“We really have evidence of the involvement of Belarusian border guards in this process, this is a fact. This is an organized activity, a certain scheme. It is well-organized, planned,” Bilotaite said, adding that the operation was a “profitable crime involving the regime and the officials themselves.”
According to Bilotaite, the number of people caught illegally entering Lithuania this year is already seven times more than in 2020 and 12 times higher than in 2019.
And here’s the thing. Belarusian officials are not even bothering to deny it.