Belarus

"I drafted the Constitution. Lawyers put it down in writing, and I dictated it, because I saw, as a president, what powers I need to maintain the country. Now we will publish it, in about a month."
A referendum on a new constitution could be held around February 20, 2022, "unless war breaks out," the Belarusian leader added.

Poland said on Nov. 20 that Belarus has changed tactics in their border crisis by directing smaller groups of migrants to several points along the European Union's eastern frontier.

Though there have been signs of the crisis easing, Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he expected the border showdown to be long drawn out while Belarus said the situation remained "tense".

Vilnius – Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended the Future of Democracy forum in Vilnius on Friday and held talks with his Lithuanian and Latvian counterparts dedicated to the situation on the border with Belarus.

Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have flocked to Europe after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced in May that he was easing measures against those wishing to emigrate to the West.

Hope for de-escalating the crisis, which has seen thousands camping in desperate conditions on the border for weeks, had been mounting in recent days, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko twice by phone.

European Union Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, responsible for coordinating migration and security policies, has held two-day long talks in Ankara, his fourth stop in a tour of partner countries key to putting a stop to the "instrumentalization of migrants by the Belarussian regime and [which] aims to further reinforce the overall cooperation on migration and security."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met on Nov. 18 with European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas in Turkey's capital Ankara to discuss regional issues. 

"We discussed with Schinas irregular migration issues in our region, including in Belarus," Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter.

The European Union must seal its external borders to deter migrants who are no longer welcome in the affluent 27-nation bloc, Slovenian Interior Minister Ales Hoys, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said today, Reuters reported.

Hundreds of migrants who were camped in the cold on the Poland-Belarus border have been moved to a nearby warehouse in Belarusian territory, reports said on Nov. 17, with some still harboring hopes of entering the European Union.

People in Polish Army uniform on Tuesday attacked three photojournalists working in Wiejka, a village near Michalowo, in the Podlaskie region, next to the border with Belarus, a statement put out on Wednesday by the Polish Press Club said.