Polish President Warns That Middle East Violence Helps Russia

The Polish president, Andrzej Duda has said that the current violence between Hamas and Israel works in Russia’s favour as it distracts international attention from Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine and may result in new migration pressures on Europe.

Poland, a staunch supporter of Kyiv since Russia launched its invasion in early 2022, has sheltered more than a million Ukrainian refugees. But it has flatly rejected any European Union mechanisms that would require it to take in a share of the irregular migrants entering the bloc from other directions.

“It certainly benefits Russia and Russian aggression against Ukraine. It distracts the world’s attention… But above all, I am afraid that it will unfortunately cause further migration pressure on Europe,” Duda said.

“We will likely have another wave of migrants from the Middle East, which will hit Europe. Our security, protection of Poland’s borders of course, also the borders of the European Union and the Schengen zone, becomes even more important,” he said.

Since mid-2021, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia have seen an increase in the number of mainly Middle Eastern and African migrants trying to enter illegally from Belarus, which they accuse of facilitating such crossings, a claim Minsk rejects.

REUTERS/Christopher Ojilere