This time the main countries of origin of those arriving via the new route from Russia are Syria and Afghanistan, with some also coming from Somalia, Yemen and Eritrea, according to German police.
Concerns about the use of migration as a hybrid weapon have been growing across the bloc in recent years, but particularly among EU countries that want to see stricter limits on migration. A letter to the European Commission signed by 15 member states last week proposes that measures in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum should be strengthened even further to allow countries to “act swiftly to counter instances of instrumentalization – such as the hybrid attack orchestrated most recently by the Belarusian and Russian regimes – in order to provide for the national security of the Member States.”
Also read: Migrants attempt risky Kaliningrad route to Europe
There are also fears that other countries could follow the lead of Russia and Belarus: The German broadcaster ARD says that experts from the EU border agency Frontex believe migrants could be used by states such as Serbia, Turkey, Libya and Morocco to exert pressure on the bloc’s external borders.
In the meantime, the member states bordering Russia and Belarus are erecting higher physical and legal barriers in response to the threat.
On Saturday, Poland announced plans to spend more than 2.5 billion euros on strengthening its eastern border, a move Tusk described as “a strategy to push back the war at our frontiers.”
And in Finland, where a rise in the number of attempts by undocumented migrants to enter from Russia led the government to seal the border last year, the government in Helsinki has proposed a new law that would allow authorities to turn away asylum seekers at the border.
With AFP
Source link : https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/57253/russia-alleged-to-be-smuggling-migrants-to-europe-in-hybrid-attack
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Publish date : 2024-05-22 07:00:00
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