Hybrid attack on Belarus-EU border not showing any sings of abating

  • 2021-11-22
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN - Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who met with Mateusz Morawiecki during the Polish premier's visit to Tallinn on Sunday, said that the hybrid attack on the border of Belarus is not showing any signs of abating.

Kallas thanked Poland for efficiently defending the border of the EU and NATO and affirmed that Estonia will help its neighbor to cope with the situation both through diplomatic support as well as by providing practical assistance.

Kallas said after the meeting that the hybrid attack on the border of Belarus and the EU is not showing any signs of abating.

"We anticipate that the pressure on the external border of the EU and NATO, organized by Alexander Lukashenko, will persist because the Belarusian regime has not achieved its goals. Immediately establishing new and stronger sanctions is one of the key ways to fend off this hybrid attack," the Estonian prime minister said.

A long-lasting confrontation serves the interests of the Belarusian regime as it helps direct attention away from brutal ongoing repressions and human rights violations in Belarus, according to Kallas.

Kallas deemed it very important that the European Union and its partners have a shared understanding of the hybrid attack.

"It is important to secure common messages and an action plan. We have a shared goal to ensure the security of Europe and our unity," she said.

Going forward, in addition to establishing efficient sanctions, diplomatic pressure on states whose citizens are being used for carrying out a hybrid attack must continue, according to Kallas. It is also important to support alleviating the human rights situation in Belarus so that the people who have been fraudulently lured into the state should be provided with help through humanitarian organizations and that they should get a chance to return to their home state, she added. Primary responsibility in this lies with Lukashenko's regime -- Minsk must permit full access and freedom in action in Belarus for UN relief organizations.

The prime ministers of Estonia and Poland also discussed supporting Ukraine.

"We're carefully monitoring Russia's military maneuvers near the Ukrainian border. Russia has been increasingly aggressive towards Ukraine in its rhetoric, demonstrating a desire to further aggravate tensions in their relations. The goal of allied cooperation is to prevent a military escalation," Kallas said.

The prime ministers jointly affirmed that NATO's defense and deterrence posture in the entire region must be strengthened and that cooperation towards this goal must proceed even more intensively.