(Adnkronos) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is reportedly the promoter of a secret program aimed at destabilizing the European Union. This was revealed by an investigation conducted by Politico.eu. The hybrid warfare plan, known as “Operation Inferno”, would be based on the infiltration of migrants into the EU, a strategy designed to foment social and political unrest in member countries.
Confidential documents, wiretaps and testimonies collected from internal sources confirm that Minsk has orchestrated an organized system to exploit the migration crisis as a tool of geopolitical pressure. The program, which is reportedly run by senior Belarusian officials, aims to undermine European unity and reduce economic sanctions imposed on the regime.
Tactics include offers of tourist packages and group visas advertised in countries of origin such as Iraq, designed to facilitate irregular entry into the EU. Temporary stay in Belarus and approaching the border would be supported by the Belarusian state apparatus through the national airline Belavia, hotels owned by a government department and government-controlled travel agencies, as well as a shuttle service using private vehicles.
In an intercepted call, a senior Belarusian Interior Ministry official reportedly spoke of “explicit instructions” from the minister. “We shouldn’t worry about migrants in transit to Europe,” he reportedly said, adding that the disappearance of migrants would not be a problem “as long as they don’t settle here. Anything that moves in that direction… we should not hinder it”.
The plan reportedly began in 2021, coinciding with increased tensions between Belarus and the West following the controversial 2020 presidential election that led the EU to impose tough sanctions on Lukashenko and his government. The use of migrants as a hybrid weapon by the regime has also been denounced by European leaders, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country shares a border with Belarus.
According to Politico.eu, the operation is still ongoing and has become more sophisticated over time. Some elements of the investigation suggest coordination with Russia, which openly supports the Lukashenko regime. Yesterday, the European Parliament condemned the repressive practices of the Belarusian autocrat, who is running for a seventh term in the “farcical” presidential election next Sunday.
