Immigration: Putin's hybrid war against the West, its accomplices and its useful idiots

In addition to being a social phenomenon that has an impact on public safety, illegal immigration also has a strategic dimension.

Military of Belarus, backed by Russia, monitor migration attack on Poland
The George Soros of Moscow: Vladimir Putin and his support to the radical left of the West

Belarus' migration war against Lithuania and Poland

To understand this, just look back. In 2021, Belarusian dictator Lukashenko, a puppet of Putin, used illegal immigration to launch a hybrid war against Lithuania and Poland, in an attempt to create instability in both countries by bringing thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East to their borders. The description of this strategy as a "hybrid war" is not my invention: that is how the Spanish socialist newspaper El País described it, a medium that three years later is demonizing the Italian government's attempts to curb illegal immigration from North Africa.

Russia's hybrid migration war is being created from Africa

In June 2022 I already pointed out here that Russia's destabilization of the Sahel could lead to more waves of sub-Saharan immigrants. To understand this, it was enough to look at the instability generated in that region by the Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group, the Kremlin's favorite pawns for provoking coups in Africa and installing friendly governments. As the BBC noted in February 2024, these activities are coordinated by the GRU, Russia's foreign intelligence service. By now, using these resources, Russia has already extended its networks across Libya, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea and Zimbabwe.

Russia has more than just a clear interest in the natural resources that these countries can offer. As Aquilino Cayuela points out today in El Debate, Russia is spurring mass immigration in Africa to destabilize the European Union. Cayuela specifically points to what happened in Niger, a country where a coup d'état took place in 2023, after which the coup government, supported by Russia, broke diplomatic relations with Ukraine:

"The new Nigerien authorities also did not wait to repeal in November 2023 the 2015 law criminalizing illegal migrant trafficking, which had been adopted under pressure from the EU. Shortly afterwards, they stepped up their military cooperation with Russia."

Andrzej Duda's warning about the Middle East

Lithuania, Poland and Africa are not the only scenarios of Putin's hybrid war using immigration as a weapon. A year ago, Polish President Andrzej Duda noted that Hamas's terrorist attack against Israel "favors Russia" (recall that the Kremlin has had a fluid relationship with Hamas) and warned: "I am afraid that, unfortunately, this will lead to another migratory pressure on Europe. We will probably have another wave of migrants from the Middle East that will affect Europe." The Polish president added: "The question of our security, the protection of the borders of the Republic of Poland, the borders of the EU and the Schengen area is becoming even more important."

Putin's accomplices in this hybrid war

It is not difficult to identify Moscow's accomplices in this hybrid war against the West. In 2020, I already warned that Putin had been supporting far-left parties in Western countries, parties that have been receiving very favorable treatment from Russian state media, such as Podemos in Spain, Die Linke in Germany and La France insoumise. These are parties that actively promote illegal and mass immigration, as well as being among the most pro-Russian parties in their respective countries.

The useful idiots that Russia takes advantage of in this strategy

In addition to these accomplices, Putin also has useful idiots, such as Ursula von der Leyen's European Commission, which has been harassing conservative governments that reject mass immigration, such as Poland and Hungary. Among Putin's useful idiots is also the Spanish socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, who spends much more money on buying Russian gas than on helping Ukraine and who, in addition, supports the same irresponsible policies in favor of mass immigration as his communist partners in government.

However, it should be noted that Sánchez is not alone in the club of Putin's useful fools on immigration matters in Spain: in April, all the parties in Congress (with the sole exception of Vox) supported a massive regularization of 500,000 illegal immigrants, a measure that, as Vox has already warned, has had a formidable call effect in the following months, increasing the wave of illegal immigrants flowing from African countries towards Spain. In July, the Popular Party torpedoed its regional coalition governments with Vox to join Sánchez's irresponsible migration plans. With "enemies" like these, Putin doesn't need friends.

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Photo: TASS.