Fifth webinar of the series of online workshops

Fifth webinar of the series of online workshops “New Facets of Political Mobilization in Belarus”

Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at University of Tartu and The Centre for Eurasian and Russian Studies (CEURUS) successfully held the fifth webinar in the series of “New Facets of Political Mobilization in Belarus” on 19 October via Zoom. The webinar focused on the crisis on the external borders of the EU member states with Belarus, often qualified as weaponization of migration.

The team of panelists consisted of the following people: - Giedrius Česnakas, director of Political Science Studies at the Military Academy of Lithuania, Frederiks Ozols, journalist in Latvijas Avīze and lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Daugavpils, Latvia, Filip Rudnik, journalist in Kultura Liberalna, Poland and Pavel Slunkin, policy analyst, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Giedrius Česnakas spoke about Lithuania's position on this crisis, tracing the chronological sequence of events preceding the massive influx of migrants to Lithuania.

Frederiks Ozols touched upon the perception of this crisis by the Latvian society, examining how the coverage of the current situation in the Latvian mass media shapes this perception.

Filip Rudnik discussed how the migration crisis affected the internal political situation in Poland, exacerbating the political conflict between the Law and Justice Party in Poland and the opposition. He also talked about how the official narrative of the crisis was portrayed by the state, which, among other things, became a pretext to add pressure on the media.

Pavel Slunkin stirred the discussion towards Belarus, which is perceived as the source of the current situation on the external EU borders. He discussed the migration crisis as a result of the political crisis in Belarus and its use by the political regime of Belarus as a tool for dialogue with the EU.

The next and final webinar of the series will be held in mid-November. The registration form is available on project’s main page.

For additional information and inquiries please contact Jaak Erik Laja, jaak.erik.laja [ät] ut.ee

Under initiative supported by the 2020 – 2023 Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid to Eastern Partnership countries programme of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.