How Putin is fomenting Europe’s migrant crisis

‘Watch the Sahel,’ warned Tony Blair in an article marking the first year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Because of Russian influence, the region ‘will be the source of the next wave of extremism and migration to Europe,’ the former PM forecast in the Daily Telegraph. 

As the increased numbers crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe in 2022 demonstrated, the next wave of migration has started. Frontex, the EU’s border agency, reported recently that last year migration across the Central Mediterranean ‘rose by more than half to well over 100 000 detections’. 

This mass movement of people is creating tension, not only in Europe. Earlier this week, the president of Tunisia, Kais Saied, hosted a national security council to address the growing numbers of migrants arriving in his country. He said in a statement that there was ‘a criminal plan’ afoot to change the demography of Tunisia, which involved people receiving money to host ‘sub-Saharan migrants’.