每日英語跟讀 Ep.K168: Lithuania declares emergency over undocumented migrants from Belarus

Lithuania declared an emergency after Belarus sent a flood of illegal migrants over the two countries’ border in protest at European Union sanctions against President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.

白俄羅斯為抗議歐盟對亞歷山大‧盧卡申科總統政權的制裁，而將大量非法移民送往白俄羅斯與立陶宛之邊境，立陶宛隨之宣布進入緊急狀態。

The tensions are part of a standoff between Brussels and Minsk that escalated in May when the former Soviet republic forced a Ryanair jet to land there so the authorities could arrest an opposition journalist on board. The two sides were already at odds over Lukashenko’s victory in last year’s presidential election, which was widely deemed fraudulent and which triggered huge protests against his 27-year rule.

此緊張局勢之背景，為布魯塞爾與明斯克間之僵局，此僵局在五月間惡化，由於白俄羅斯這前蘇聯共和國，強迫瑞安航空一架噴射機在白俄羅斯境內降落，以便當局逮捕機上一名反對派記者。歐盟與白俄羅斯雙方對盧卡申科贏得去年白俄羅斯總統大選一事看法已經分歧，這場選舉廣被認為是舞弊，引發了反對盧卡申科二十七年統治的大規模抗議。

EU penalties over the vote — and the crackdown on demonstrators that ensued — were criticized as toothless, but the plane incident sparked measures targeting Belarus’ aviation sector and, more recently, its key industries. The tensions have left Lukashenko reliant on Russia’s Vladimir Putin for support.

對於該選舉，以及隨後當局對示威者的鎮壓，歐盟對白俄羅斯的懲罰被批評為沒有約束力。但飛機事件引發了針對白俄羅斯航空業，以及最近的對該國關鍵產業的制裁措施。緊張的局勢，讓盧卡申科向俄羅斯總統弗拉迪米爾‧普丁尋求依靠。

Lukashenko threatened in a speech in May to send drugs and illegal migrants into the EU unchecked, with Lithuania a prime target as it has become a temporary home for the president’s political rivals. The number of undocumented immigrants — mostly from Iraq — crossing from Belarus jumped to 822 through July 2 this year from 81 in the whole of 2020.

盧卡申科在五月一次演說中威脅，將不再約束毒品及非法移民，任其進入歐盟，尤其是立陶宛，因為立陶宛已成為盧卡申科政敵的臨時庇護所。由白俄羅斯入境的無證移民（主要來自伊拉克），從二零二零年全年的八十一人，已躍升至今年截至七月二日的八百二十二人。

A still image obtained by Reuters shows a flight path of Ryanair FR4978 on May 23 on its way from Athens, Greece to Lithuanian capital Vilnius and diverted to Minsk, Belarus when flying over the country. Citing a “bomb threat,” Belarusian flight controllers ordered the jet to land in Minsk, where authorities arrested Roman Protasevich, a dissident journalist who was on board. Sharing a 679-kilometer border, the Lithuania-Belarus tensions reflect the struggles between EU and Russia — the great powers behind them. 

路透社取得之五月二十三日瑞安航空FR4978班機飛行路線，顯示該班機原訂由希臘雅典飛往立陶宛首都維爾紐斯，卻在飛越白俄羅斯國境上空時，轉往明斯克。此因白俄羅斯航管人員謊稱機上有炸彈，命飛機在明斯克降落，白俄羅斯當局遂藉此逮捕搭乘該機之異議記者羅曼?普羅塔塞維奇。立陶宛與白俄羅斯之邊界長六百七十九公里，兩國之衝突反應出其背後兩大勢力——歐盟及俄羅斯——之角力。Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2021/07/12/2003760685

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