Lukashenko: EU shies away from contacts with Belarus to resolve migrant crisis

<p> MINSK, Nov 22 - PrimePress. The contact persons on behalf of the European Union who were supposed to cooperate with Belarus on resolving the refugee crisis do not get in touch. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko made a statement to this effect on 22 November at a meeting with Grodno Oblast Governor Vladimir Karanik and President's Aide – Inspector for Grodno Oblast Yury Karayev, the president’s press-service reports. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Lukashenko is waiting for the EU to give an answer, whether they will or will not let in 2,000 migrants, who are camped the near the border crossing Bruzgi - Kuznica Bialostocka. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “I am waiting for the EU’s decision on 2,000 refugees. We have about 2,000 refugees in this camp. I asked them [the European Union and, in particular, Germany] to take them away. They said that Merkel [Germany’s acting Chancellor Angela Merkel] promised me to consider this problem at the EU level. Yet, it is not even being considered. The same pertains to contact persons (it was also her promise and a decision made by the EU). These contact persons do not even get in touch. Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs [Vladimir] Makey calls them to invite them to come to grips with this problem. They answer that they are on a business trip, somewhere else and so on,” said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “Therefore, we should not wait for anyone. Once they refused, they will not be allowed to come here. There is nothing for them to do here. … We will handle these migrants on our own if Germany does not take them. What else is left for us to do? We have no choice. But we must demand that the Germans take them,” he emphasized. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “We will try to meet the wishes of these people (illegal migrants – editor’s note). Their wishes are a must for us. They have expressed a wish to go back to Iraq, Syria, and we, as you see, have organized a flight. We are preparing another flight at the end of the month if there are enough people ready to go. They want to reach Germany and Poland. We will try to help them in every possible way. Together with them, we will demand that they be allowed to enter Germany,” said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In his words, Merkel requested to let in the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner and other institutions to contact the encamped migrants. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “But I saw very soon that some people had been here before. Why would they come here again? If you have arrived, then help the refugees. If you cannot arrange a humanitarian corridor, so tell me why you cannot. You have the experience of helping refugees, so help them. These international organizations also accumulate huge finances. No one is really addressing this problem except for the Belarus Red Cross, our MPs, representatives of our government. If they have arrived, but are of no specific help, tell them goodbye. Let them go to the Poles and deal with these problems from the Polish side. And we can handle these problems on our own. What are you [foreign visitors] telling us about medicines and so on? We have enough medicines. You have billions of dollars. Give money to these migrants so that they can get medical assistance, some subsistence minimum, and so on,” said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In his words, alongside the main refugee camp, one should not forget about the situation on the border as a whole. “These poor fellows keep crossing the border - 200-300-400-600 people along the entire border with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia. I have got the recent updates. True, there are much fewer of them by now - about one and a half hundred people along the entire border of the three states,” said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, the political crisis in Belarus began after the presidential election of 9 August 2020, in which Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner for the sixth time with 80.1% of the vote. For several months, there were mass protests and violent crackdowns in the country. Western countries imposed four sets of sanctions on a number of Belarusian individuals and companies. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In July 2021, President Lukashenko stated that, due to sanctions imposed by Western countries, he no longer intended to restrain illegal migration to the European Union. This was followed by attempts to illegally cross the border with Lithuania, Poland and Latvia by migrants from the Middle East, with total inactivity of the Belarusian border service. On 15 November at a session of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), foreign ministers of member states of the European Union (EU) reached a political agreement on applying the 5th parcel of sanctions against Belarus. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Merkel discussed the migration issue on 10 and 11 November by phone with Putin, who said, among other things, that de-escalation of the migration crisis is only possible through direct talks between the EU and the Belarusian authorities. On 15 November, Merkel and Lukashenko held their first telephone conversation, the second phone talk followed on 17 November. </p> <p>   </p> <p> EU representatives said they were ready for technical negotiations with the Belarusian side, without recognising Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus. The EU allocated €700,000 euros for humanitarian aid to illegal migrants in Belarus. The German government refused to accept 2,000 illegal migrants encamped on the Belarusian-Polish border. End </p>

2021-11-23

Primepress