DISINFO: Lithuania applies double standards to refugees
SUMMARY
Lithuania applies double standards to refugees. People who arrived from Kabul receive full refugee privileges. They are welcome in Lithuania and the EU.
Those who arrived from Belarus will spend winter in the tents behind barbed wire. Almost all got a negative answer about asylum in Lithuania. Now it is just one question: how to kick them out of Lithuania.
RESPONSE
This article combines the topic of the migration crisis on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border with that of the evacuation to Lithuania of Afghans who worked with Lithuanian troops.
Over 100 interpreters and their families were evacuated to Lithuania from Afghanistan. These people were in danger of repression from the Taliban due to their collaboration with Lithuanian troops.
The situation with irregular migrants, who enter Lithuania illegally across the border from the side of Belarus is different. The migrant crisis erupted in the summer 2021. Lithuania faced an influx of illegal migrants from Belarus (the majority are citizens of third countries: Syria, Iraq, African countries). Earlier Belarus ended cooperation with the EU to stem illegal migration. It was Minsk's answer to the European Union sanctions on the political regime of Belarus (read more about sanctions here).
On 2 July 2021, Lithuania declared a state of emergency due to the migrant crisis. During the first eight months of 2021, over 4000 irregular migrants crossed the border from Belarus to Lithuania.
Lithuania officially linked the influx of irregular migrants to the actions of the Belarusian authorities. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis noted that “Lukashenko seeks to weaponise migration to weaken our resolve for sanctions”.
The asylum requests of irregular migrants are processed case by case according to Lithuanian laws and international treaties. Lithuania will not leave migrants in tents during winter. They will be moved to buildings with central heating and all amenities.
See other examples of disinformation about the migrant crisis in Lithuania: Lithuanian border guard service officers beat migrants and forced them to return to Belarus; The West plans to push thousands of illegal migrants to Belarus using force; Lithuania ask Europe for money for hybrid war with Minsk.