Belarus’ Secret Programme to Destabilise the EU: Lukashenko Regime Used Migration as a Weapon

Intercepted phone calls and documents obtained by POLITICO show that the Belarusian government's instructions were clear: let the migrants go to Europe.

The hybrid warfare programme was designed to sow political hostility in EU countries. It began in the spring of 2021, when the country was sanctioned by the bloc for suppressing dissent after fraudulent elections that gave the country's dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, a sixth presidential term.

Following reports of the disappearance of several people who had come to Belarus from Africa to learn to play football, Igor Kachalava, deputy chief of the criminal police in Minsk region, called the Interior Ministry for advice.

‘The minister gave clear instructions,’ Mikhail Bedunkevich, a senior ministry official, said in an intercepted conversation shared with POLITICO.

 ‘We don't have to worry about migrants in transit to Europe.’ He was silent for a moment, then added: ‘Disappeared? That's fine, as long as they don't settle here. Everything that is moving in this direction... we should not stand in the way.’

Documents obtained by POLITICO include communications between Belarusian security forces and state-controlled travel agencies and hotels. They detail an attempt to create a weapon for migration that is still in place today as the 70-year-old autocrat runs for an unprecedented seventh term on 26 January.

In countries such as Iraq, advertisements were placed for tours to Belarus. When potential migrants responded, travel agencies submitted petitions to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry requesting short-term visas.

After paying between $6,000 and $15,000 for the package, the ‘travellers’ flew to Belarus on airlines such as Fly Baghdad, Iraqi Airways and Belarusian state-owned Belavia. Upon arrival, they received visas, were met by company representatives and taken to hotels owned by the Presidential Administration, a government agency directly subordinate to Lukashenko. The planes returned half-empty.

The scheme worked smoothly until June 2021, when independent Belarusian and Western media began reporting large numbers of foreigners seen on the streets, in cafes and shopping malls, and linking their arrivals to Tsentrkurort, the state-owned travel company listed on visa applications, which is owned by the Presidential Administration.