Poland is closing the construction of walls on the border with neighboring Belarus. This was announced on Thursday, June 30, by the Polish Minister of the Interior Mariusz Kaminsky. “The barrier we have erected separates us from Lukashenka’s ominous dictatorship,” Kaminsky said in the Kuznitsa border parish. The height of the barrier structure is 5.5 meters. About 350 million euros were spent on its construction. The length is 186 kilometers – a little less than half of the length of the Polish-Belarusian border.
According to the head of the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs, the influx of people from the territory of Belarus was “part of a larger scenario, a scenario of destabilization of the entire region, all of Central and Eastern Europe.” “It was preparation for a war with Ukraine,” the minister added.
Amendments to legislation
The government in Warsaw changed the earlier national legislation, making it easier to collect from the border on the border with the Republic of Belarus. Human rights activists expand the amendments, noting that they are contrary to criminal law, as they interfere with the need for an asylum order.
“As Poland pursues the flight of people to the EU with the help of throwing, walls and changes in lawmaking, those who seek protection are influencing the force of the law of the fair methodology of the Belarusian ruler Lukashenko,” Pro Asyl said. “Those whose exports go through transit to Poland automatically fall into the closure,” the human rights activists added.
The situation with migrants
Poland decided to build a fence on the border with Belarus in 2021 after a sharp increase in the flow of flows from the countries of the Middle East. Minsk brought people into the country with the aim of sending them to the EU. Minister of the Interior of Poland, in particular with regard to motion sensors, as well as day and night surveillance cameras. Spirals of barbed wire were to be attached at the top.
the governments of Poland and other countries have been held criminally liable for relations with the outside world. At the end of May 2021, Lukashenka announced that Minsk would no longer track illegal immigrants trying to enter through Belarus on EU density.
After that, the number of flights from the countries of the Middle East of Belarus to Minsk has significantly increased, and the flow of tourists seeking to enter the territory has sharply increased. In response to the “hybrid attack” of Minsk, the EU introduced the fifth package of drugs, including against medium-term ones, carrying messages from the Middle East to Belarus.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
30 years of democracy diplomacy
In 2022, we will protocol relations with the Republic of Belarus and start 30 years. 28 of them are the incidence of Alexander Lukashenko, and during this time relations between Minsk and Brussels go through various stages – from mergers and expansion of interaction on a different scale to a sharp distance and mutual coverage. A story of hopes and disagreements – in the DW photo gallery.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Stop at start
Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Belarus and the application were established in August 1992. In March 1995, the Partnership and Structure Agreement (PCA) was signed in Brussels. But after the referendum in 1996, the EU dramatically expanded the powers of the president, in the next 1997.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Basis of disagreement
At the heart of the differences between Brussels and Minsk is a different assessment of the results of the Belarusian elections. Since 1996, the apparatus has not been considered democratic. He was not a president, recognized as legal and by a referendum in 2004, which gave Alexander Lukashenko the opportunity to run for office without restrictions. The last presidential straw was the 2020 elections: the EU countries did not recognize Lukashenka’s recognition and broke off long-term relations with him.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Embassy scandals
Before the events of 2020, EU ambassadors abroad Belarus. In June 1998, they were expelled from their residence in the village of Drozdy under the pretext of repairs near Lukashenka’s residence. Diplomats returned only in January 1999. In anticipation of 2012, 27 ambassadors.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Non-recognition of Lukashenka and departure of EU ambassadors
After Lukashenka held a secret “inauguration” in September 2020, he announced his non-recognition as the President of Belarus. As a result of the subsequent EU verdicts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus withdrew its proverbs from Poland and Lithuania and invited the ambassadors of the countries to abandon Belarus. Later, the head of the EU Delegation to Belarus was also forced to leave the country.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Sanctions for repression
For the first time, relations between Minsk and Brussels seriously aggravated after the dispersal of the protest action on the day of the presidential elections on December 19, 2010. Liberalization 2007-2008. detentions against Lukashenka protesters. Most of the meetings held after this meeting regarding Belarus were closed. in response to the release of political prisoners.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Ukrainian factor of normalization
In 2015, relations between Minsk and Brussels corresponded to the points of view after the events of December 2010. Belarus’ efforts to resolve the conflict due to the frequent acceleration of the normalization of relations with the West and, in particular, with the EU. The release of political prisoners and the absence of repression during the 2015 presidential elections gave Brussels a formal basis to “freeze” most of the remnants.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
EU sanctions after 2020 elections
Following the 2020 elections, protocol introduced five packages against protesters. Taking into account the last, fifth package, adopted in December 2021, 183 people are on the sanctions lists, including Alexander Lukashenko himself, as well as 26 enterprises.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Forced landing of full Ryanair
On May 23, 2021, a plane of the Irish airline Ryanair, flying from Athens to Vilnius through the airspace of Belarus, was forced to transport a landing in Minsk under the pretext of the possibility of a terrorist attack. As a result, Roman Protasevich, a former editor of the opposition channel Nexta, and his Russian companion Sofia Sapega were detained.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Sanctions against Belavia
The detained special services of Belarus released a video with the “confession” of Roman Protasevich, while signs of torture were visible on his face. In response to the interception, an EU permit for air security of flights over Belarus was issued, and issued by Belavia and other state-owned companies of the Republic of Belarus, it was forbidden to fly over the EU and land at its airports.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Migrant Crisis
The situation with migrants in Poland and Belarus escalated in early November 2021. Numerous groups of incentives identified in Belarus are finding a breakthrough through the mechanism for several weeks to identify possible consequences. In Europe, they called the organization suspicious on the territory of Belarus a “hybrid aggression” of the Belarusian regime.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Cooperation in the “Eastern Partnership”
Back in 2009, Belarus, together with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, was invited to the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) program. But very soon it will be determined that Minsk does not pretend to integration with Europe, is only interested in a pragmatic assembly in the economy and does not intend to single out one of the main priorities of the EaP – democratization.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Cooperation without a contract
Belarus is the only one of the 6 EaP countries that does not have a Board of Directors with the EU. Minsk signed with Brussels the “Priorities for Implementation” program, which became the first step towards the Agreement of the Basic Agreement, but the signing of the document was constantly postponed. And since it had a fixed time period (2017-2020), its meaning was generally lost during the circulation.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Exit from the “Eastern World”
At the end of June 2021, in response to the ruling following the landing decision, Ryanair Belarus announced the completion of the Eastern Termination. The app had previously frozen cooperation at the political level with the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. Therefore, an invitation to Minsk from Brussels was not even sent to the EaP summit on December 15, 2021.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Economic partnership
In recent years, the application has been for Belarus the most important trading partner after Russia. For export went to the main oil products. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, trade with the EU in 2020 amounted to 12 billion US dollars, having decreased by 9.2% compared to 2019. The balance was negative in the amount of 1 billion dollars (similarly in 2019). The share of the EU in total Belarusian exports is 18.8% (18.5% in 2019).
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Help from the device
In 2014-2020 the EU aid package for Belarus found 170 million euros. Funded joint projects in the field of environmental protection, energy, border improvement. There were important talks about visa facilitation and readmission, and a program for students was in place. After the 2020 elections, the EU revised its assistance to Belarus, completely abandoning transportation with sections at the level.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
EU Economic Sanctions
In June 2021, the application was introduced against the Assembly of Belarus. They included Belarusian exports of potash fertilizers and oil products, as well as manufacturers of tobacco products. In addition, the EU closed access to foreign banks, banned insurance and reinsurance.
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History of relations and applications of Belarus
Russia’s war against Ukraine
On February 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine. Despite Lukashenka’s assurances that Belarusian cases do not happen in war, the EU and the international community see Belarus as complicit in the Russian emergency against Ukraine. February 27 announcement of new sanctions against Belarus that affect imports, tobacco products, wood, cement and steel.
Author: Galina Petrovskaya, Maria Vasilkova