The Estonian interior minister has accused Russia of conducting a “hybrid attack operation” by bringing migrants to its border.
“Quite frankly, (the) ongoing migration pressure on Europe’s eastern border is a hybrid attack operation,” Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets told Reuters on Wednesday.
Seventy-five migrants have attempted to enter Estonia from Russia since last Thursday, according to the country’s public broadcaster ERR. Most of them were from Somalia and Syria and, according to the Interior Ministry, all were turned back.
According to Laanemets, “there are many signs that Russian border officials and possibly other agencies are involved”.
He told Reuters that migrants were coming to the border checkpoint in Narva in groups of 7-11 people and were being filmed by Russian border guards. Later, the videos showing them being turned back by Estonian border guards appeared on Russian media.
Previously, Finland also said Russian authorities were pushing asylum seekers to its border as a way of exerting pressure. Moscow has denied the accusations.
In 2021, Lithuania and Poland experienced a similar situation when thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa tried to enter from Belarus. The Lithuanian government has accused the Belarusian authorities of orchestrating it, calling it a “hybrid attack”.
Lithuanian border guards were then instructed to push back the migrants. Several thousand who entered the country were put in effective detention for six months.
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