ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the readers to the context of the situation of Ukrainian refugees in the Visegrad countries by exploring pre-war migration policies of Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, discussing the situation of migrants in these states and the local societies’ attitudes towards migrants and migration. These policies determined the level of readiness of the Visegrad countries when refugees started coming in after the war started. The aim of this part of the book is also to present the role of media as a tool of migration policy and the public perception of migrants in the Visegrad countries. The chapter is based on desk research and analysis of official documents by the European Union and the analysed states.
