Lithuania's border guards have discovered tunnels through which migrants are trying to enter the country from Belarus. Analysts see them as a means to destabilize the country.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10669929

Lithuania’s border guards have discovered tunnels through which migrants are trying to enter the country from Belarus. Analysts see them as a means to destabilize the country.

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Migrants are taking a new route to enter the Baltic country Lithuania: underground tunnels. These could be yet another attempt by Belarus to foster political instability, experts say.

The country’s border guards say they have found 12 such tunnels since the beginning of the year all along the Belarusian border, with a length of up to 25 meters on the Lithuanian side. They are expecting more to emerge.

Lithuania’s border with Belarus is about 700 kilometers long, around 550 kilometers of which are fenced.

“We have a ground seismic system, which can detect easily when there’s a high level of vibrations over a long period of time,” General Rustamas Liubajevas, the commander of Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service, explained to DW.

“We then wait [outside a tunnel] for the final stage of the digging and when the migrants come out, we apprehend them,” he said, adding that up to 40 migrants exiting such tunnels had been arrested.

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Lithuania’s prosecutor’s office confirmed to DW that a pre-trial investigation was under way concerning approximately 20 people suspected of illegally digging a tunnel. Possible charges also include people smuggling. Due to the investigation, no media visits are currently authorized at the sites.

Liubajevas is surprised migrants would attempt a subterranean crossing.

“It takes a lot of effort to dig a tunnel and the migrants are arrested almost immediately — at most, one small group gets through,” he said.

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The elaborate nature of the tunnels has led him to believe the migrants aren’t working alone.

“They wouldn’t be able to go through with this without logistical support from the Belarusian authorities, as they need a lot of material like wood to strengthen the tunnels’ walls,” he stressed, adding that Belarus seemingly wanted to “keep the level of tension at the border high.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenkohas denied facilitating migration flows to neighboring states. Similar migrant tunnels were discovered in the past in neighboring Poland.

Margarita Seselgyte, Director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, seconded Liubajevas’ view.

“Belarus is watching its border very closely, and the country doesn’t fit in the natural migration route of migrants from Afghanistan, Iran or Sri Lanka,” she told DW, adding that Minsk had to at least have turned a blind eye to any digging activity taking place near the border.

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For her, Minsk is assisting its close ally Moscow. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 partly from Belarus, where it amassed troops under the pretext of military drills.

“Lithuania has been very vocal in terms of defense against Russia, both conventional and hybrid, on an EU and Nato level, and they want to silence that voice by causing chaos in our country,” the political scientist said.

“The main goal is probably to weaken support for Ukraine and disrupt European unity,” she added.

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  • tardigradeOP
    2·
    13 days ago

    The article is about Belarus - potentially at Russia’s order - trying to destabilize the West.

    Inequality in Europe is much lower than in other regions and countries. I don’t reject migration (especially as I live in a country that isn’t my own), but this here is another issue. Russia, China, and other countries (where no one wants to flee, btw) are using this to destabilize Western democracies.

    Europe needs a different migration policy, but on its own terms. Malign states are using migration to sow division and incite hatred among democratic societies, in parts by using far-right parties like Germany’s AfD - which are supported, again, by states like Russia and China.

    • atro_city@fedia.io
      1·
      13 days ago

      Inequality may be lower, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a major issue. It’s the core issue behind the lack of money available to the state to fund basic services adequately, why the majority cannot buy a home and have to rent, why many people do not have kids due to financial pressure, why they feel politics isn’t doing anything for them and thus looking for black sheep. People are much easier to influence when they are poorer and desperate.

      Wealth inequality has also lead to messed up economy where large companies can (and have) bought up media, where they can focus the less wealthy on unimportant topics like these.

      The West can only be “destabilised” by immigration because of wealth inequality. If the overwhelming majority owned their homes, earned enough not to worry about paying the bills, and the state could easily pay for social housing, healthcare, transport, infrastructure, and other basics, a few thousand people crossing the border wouldn’t even register.

      • tardigradeOP
        1·
        12 days ago

        I don’t say we can’t improve government in the West. There’s a lot wrong. What I say is that China and Russia are using justified critique not to improve the system but to destroy it.

        These migrants didn’t cross the border, they came through self-made tunnels. It is impossible that authorities in Belarus weren’t aware of that. What is described in the article has nothing to do with migration, this is a deliberate act to destabilize Western countries.

        Wealth inequality has also lead to messed up economy where large companies can (and have) bought up media, where they can focus the less wealthy on unimportant topics like these.

        Again, there is much to improve. But we in the West have ore equality, we have less concentration of money and power, and more media freedom than in Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and most other countries.

        These people who tried to enter the EU via a tunnel aren’t migrants, they are pawns in an evil game played by Lukashenko.

        • atro_city@fedia.io
          11·
          12 days ago

          These people who tried to enter the EU via a tunnel aren’t migrants, they are pawns in an evil game played by Lukashenko.

          They own nothing. They cost us nearly nothing. Meanwhile the uber-rich cost us our democracy, our housing, our healthcare, our job security, and more.

          They can be used as pawns because their political value has been magnified 10,000 fold by the hyperclass. “Oh look, these 1000 people are here to take everything you have! Your wife, your kids, your jobs your houses!” Meanwhile, they own your debt, the building you live in, the establishment and right-wing politicians you vote for, the media you consume, and the social media you use.

          I’m saying that while this is a problem, it is the mouse flea in the room filled with elephants.