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Belarus border crisis: who was blamed on 10 November?
Summary
A look back at the Belarus–Poland border crisis as it stood on the eve of 10 November 2021, after deaths, a Lithuanian emergency and an accusation aimed at Moscow.
Who was responsible for the migrants massing on the edge of the European Union? By 10 November 2021, the question had become the centre of a widening dispute along the Belarus–Poland border, and Warsaw had already given its answer.
Deaths at the frontier
On 8 November 2021, a large crowd of migrants, escorted by the Belarusian military, tried to break through the border near Bruzgi in Belarus's Grodno Region. Several migrants were reported dead. Seven were found on the Polish side of the border, and a few more deaths were reported in Belarus.
Warsaw points to Moscow
On 9 November 2021, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for orchestrating the crisis. He said it had its mastermind in Moscow. The charge widened a dispute that had centred on Belarus and drew Russia into the argument over who was behind the pressure on the border.
Lithuania declares an emergency
The same day, Lithuania announced a state of emergency, the first since its independence. The announcement came as neighbouring Poland saw attacks on its border.
Taken together, these developments, reported in the two days before 10 November 2021, showed a crisis that was deepening on the ground and moving into the political arena. Migrants had died at the frontier, and a Polish government leader had publicly named a culprit in Moscow. A second EU neighbour, Lithuania, had taken an emergency step of a kind it had never used since regaining independence.
