Belarus art festival could renew pressure on Poland

A visa waiver for
participants of an art festival in Belarus in July could serve
as a gateway for migrants and renew pressure on Poland’s eastern
border, a senior Polish security official said on Thursday.
Poland has been a refuge for opponents of Belarus President
Alexander Lukashenko, and has become one of Kyiv’s staunchest
supporters since Belarus’ main ally Russia invaded Ukraine in
February 2022.
It has also accused Belarus of artificially creating a
migrant crisis on the border by flying in people from the Middle
East and Africa and attempting to push them across the frontier.
In response to the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants,
mainly from the Middle East and Afghanistan, Poland built a
steel border barrier, but its border guard still reports dozens
of attempts to enter Poland illegally daily.
“A potential new reason for attracting migrants from
high-risk countries to Belarus could be the International Art
Festival ‘Slavonic Bazaar’ in Vitebsk,” Stanislaw Zaryn, deputy
to Minister Coordinator of Special Services wrote on Twitter.
By decree of Lukashenko, participants and guests of the July
event from 73 countries, including the Middle East, Africa and
Latin America, would be exempt from visa requirements for
entering Belarus.
“The migration facilitation introduced, if successful, may
lead to an increase in the influx of people to Belarus, which
Lukashenko’s services will use to intensify the hybrid operation
conducted on our eastern border,” Zaryn wrote.
Festival ticket holders will be able to enter Belarus
without a visa from between July 4-23, a Belarus government
website says.
No-one from the Belarusian embassy in Warsaw was immediately
available for comment.