How Putin is trying to flood Britain with migrants by luring them with cheap flights before dumping them at the Polish border

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is sending migrants to Britain in collaboration with human smugglers in his war with the West.

The Kremlin dictator’s cronies are luring asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East to Russia and puppet state Belarus with offers of cheap flights and visas.

But when they arrive, they are beaten and taken to Belarus’s border with Poland to be deported to the EU and then, often to Britain.

At least 28,000 illegal crossing attempts were made from Belarus to Poland last year.

And while Putin is excited by increased oil revenues for his country due to the war in Iran, he is also trying to maximize migrant chaos in Europe to destabilize his enemies and damage their economies.

Belarus’s border with Poland is a frozen wilderness surrounded by two lines of fence spanning 115 miles and topped with razor wire.

More than 2,300 border guards patrol the area with surveillance cameras and drones.

But hurt refugees told The Sun how Belarusian thugs attacked them and forced them to cross the border – or sign up for Russia’s meatgrinder war if they failed to reach Poland.

Somali TV producer Elias Elmi, 45, fled to Russia after being warned he was on a hit list of rebels in the country’s bloody civil war. He was given a tourist visa to board a cheap flight to Moscow.

Before leaving to meet his wife and child in Germany, Elias planned to use people smugglers to help him cross into Poland.

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But, instead, she found herself part of a 13-strong group that had settled in a remote wooded border area surrounded by wolves, bears and herds of wild bison.

There, Belarusian guards beat him and ordered him to cross an 18-foot steel fence lined with razor wire on the Polish border.

Ilyas told The Sun: “They didn’t let us turn back and told me if I tried they would shoot me. We starved there for 40 days and nights.

“There were four women in my group and one of them, her name was Nadia and she was 22 years old, became so sick that she died.

“When we tried to take him to the hospital the guards ordered us back into the forest.”

Ilias escaped and managed to cross back into Russia before being arrested trying to reach the Finnish border.

He was thrown into prison in St. Petersburg to await deportation.

But then he was handed a document written in Russian to sign and promised he could stay if he agreed to work for the government for 12 months.

Trembling as she recalled her ordeal, she said: “I asked him what kind of job it would be and he said it would be cleaning, driving or maybe gardening so I signed up.

“But then I was put in a van with other migrants and driven for two days and two nights until I stopped at an army camp near the Ukraine border.

“When I realized they had lied I was horrified and told them I would refuse to fight. I said I would rather die in Somalia than fight for Russia.”

Ilyas managed to use his TV contacts to report his plight to the authorities and escaped the potential death sentence of the war before being allowed to apply for asylum in Poland.

But he has lost contact with Somali, Syrian and Yemeni traveling companions who were wounded on the front lines – including a man who was later captured by Ukrainian forces.

Ilyas, now living in the Polish city of Bialystok, near the Belarus border, said: “I know I am very lucky but I also know that many people have died trying to reach Poland.

“Many more are crossing the border illegally and traveling further west. I have four out of five Somali friends who reached Britain and are now safe there.”

Horror stories of Belarusian brutality have emerged from Polish sources since the eastern route opened in 2021, just before the start of the Ukraine war.

It is said that the migrants’ feet would be damaged due to frostbite in the winter when the guards took away their shoes.

Many more are crossing the border illegally and traveling west. I have four out of five Somali friends who reached the UK and are now safe there

Somali Elias Elmi

And others panting with thirst have been given water vessels containing broken glass. Guards following Kremlin orders have bused thousands of people to the forbidden border to maximize the escape.

Belarusians routinely punch holes in fences and hit frightened migrants with batons as they push them into Poland.

Others were forced to climb over the barrier and suffered serious injuries due to falls and razor wire.

Putin’s Belarusian operatives have also built at least four tunnels under the border, reportedly aided by experts from Russia’s Hamas allies, who built Gaza’s underground network.

The most sophisticated – a Great Escape-style construction discovered in December last year – featured concrete supports in a 5ft high crawl space spanning 70 metres. Polish border officials caught 130 people coming through, but 50 others disappeared and are believed to have been linked to smugglers heading west.

They keep moving because Poland offers no UK-style welcome blanket or promise of free hotels or health care.

They quickly find that Polish border guards are hunting them down by ordering them straight back, even though the country had passed a law banning asylum claims a year earlier.

The video shows the Polish side being pepper-sprayed and teargassed upon their desperate arrival and returned to the clutches of the Belarusians, who again beat them.

Huge resources have been spent on Guard patrol and border security as more than 13,000 migrants have been pushed back in the past 12 months.

On both sides of the border, more than 100 bodies have been found frozen or drowned in the dangerous swamps around the Bug River, which forms part of the border.

The Polish government has been forced to spend £325 million on a massive border fence due to be completed in June 2023, and millions of pounds on patrolling.

‘broken bones’

Poles are convinced that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his officials are actively encouraging people trafficking and are even associated with gangs.

The campaign is low-cost for Belarus, yet Poland and other European countries have millions less to spend on arms for Ukraine. Russia and Belarus are using social media to advertise attractive travel packages and easier access to the EU to people from conflict-torn Third World countries, promising “you will feel safe”.

Sudanese migrant Youssef, a 27-year-old electronics technician from Khartoum – whose name we changed at his request – fell for an advertisement and fled his country’s civil war in May last year.

After contacting helpful intermediaries in the puppet state he was granted a 12-month visa and £520 airfare to study at university in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

But the visa was canceled after three months. He was arrested and imprisoned and then taken by bus to the border with Poland.

Last July he was almost beaten to death by Belarusians after being pushed back and forth across the border three times.

I want to stay in Poland now and try to be safe here but there are many more people coming illegally who are moving further west

Yusuf

Yusuf, slight and soft-spoken, said: “They took me and others like me to a hole cut in the fence and beat us with sticks as they pushed us inside.

“I was so scared that the razor wire cut my leg and my condition became very bad.

“The Poles did not beat me but pushed me back, then the Belarusians attacked me again and sent me back through another hole.

“Other people got worse and suffered broken bones after climbing and jumping over the fence.

“The last time I crossed I was about to die but the Poles finally took pity on me and took me to the hospital.”

Joseph is one of the lucky few who Poland has allowed to claim asylum in recent months. Claims are limited to people with serious medical conditions, pregnant women and unaccompanied minors.

Youssef said, crying: “I buried the remains of my girlfriend, my grandmother and my aunt after they were blown up by a rebel bomb in Khartoum and I shudder at the thought of ever going back.

“But I am absolutely afraid to go back to Belarus. There are terrible people there who have no regard for human life.

“I want to stay in Poland now and try to be safe here but there are many more people coming illegally who are moving further west.

“The Russians and Belarusians don’t care how much we suffer – they’re just using us.”

Polish Border Force Lieutenant Katarzyna Zdanovich, who now runs stations and watchtowers at the border, told The Sun: “There is no doubt that the Russians are planning this crisis.

“Who else would organize so many attempts to cross the border and even dig professional tunnels under the border?

“It’s impossible not to feel sorry for the people trying to cross.

“We try to treat them humanely, but our orders are to push them back unless they are very sick, pregnant or young.

“Winter is usually a quiet time for us but we know crossings will resume soon, but we are prepared and appreciate the importance of our work.

“A secure border here protects not only Poland, but all of Europe.”