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“The European External Action Service claims that the 50-fold increase in illegal border crossings from Belarus to the EU is not a reflection of the failure of the Belarusian authorities to fulfill their responsibilities in combating illegal migration and trafficking. of human beings “. added.
“There is no objective reason why there has been such a significant increase in illegal border crossings on the route in question,” the EU delegation said.
“The EU condemns the use of migrants for political purposes and calls on the Belarusian authorities to put an end to this practice. Illegal migration cannot be the subject of negotiations,” it said in a statement.
The delegation stressed that since October 2020, when the EU Council adopted a statement on the situation in Belarus, the Minsk authorities were aware of the bloc’s approach to sanctions and the bloc’s conditions to lift them and normalize relations.
“The European Union remains ready to significantly increase political synergies, sectoral cooperation and financial support for Belarus, provided that its authorities end the repression, ensure a serious, credible and inclusive political process leading to free and fair elections, supervised by the European Security and Defense Agency, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, in addition to guaranteeing the rule of law and respect for human rights, “says the report.
Minsk: We have nothing to do with it.
“We have nothing to do with the real reasons for the increase in migratory flows from troubled regions.” But the EU countries are directly involved as members of known coalitions, ”the state news agency BelTA quoted Anatolis Hlaz, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as saying.
“Trying to say that Belarus is somehow linked to the largest number of border crossings is, to say the least, incompetent and unprofessional,” he said.
According to Hlas, Belarus cannot geopolitically influence the choice of routes or destinations for migrants.
“The EU claim that there are no objective reasons for the increase in illegal logging sounds interesting … I think they could tell the citizens of donor countries, especially Afghanistan, given the current situation,” he said.
According to A. Glaz, border protection remains the most important task for Belarus.
“We have informed Europe of specific statistics that reflect the systematic efforts of our border guards to stifle channels for illegal migration. Unfortunately, we have not heard similar numerical information from the European side,” he said.
He said the EU had cut cross-border and migration-related cooperation with Belarus last year.
“This is why the EU has been ignoring our proposals for consultations on migration issues since April,” Hlaz said.
“So who is really politicizing the issue of migration, issuing an ultimatum here, imposing sanctions there, and making political demands for the resumption of full cooperation, including border issues? The answer is obvious, “Hlaz said.
According to him, Minsk is ready to enter into constructive talks and cooperate with the EU on this issue.
Proposal to freeze the readmission agreement
Hours earlier, the Pul Pervogo channel of the Telegram platform, close to the presidency, announced that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko had submitted a bill to parliament proposing to freeze the agreement reached with the EU on the readmission of people without residence permits.
“The document was prepared in response to hostile actions by the EU and its member states towards Belarus,” the report said.
It also establishes that the agreement defines a mechanism for the transfer, reception and return of people who have violated the conditions of entry, stay and residence.
“Our respective commitments will soon be ‘frozen’,” Telegram reported.
“Belarus is carrying out such suspension in accordance with international law. The agreement establishes that each party has the right to suspend, totally or partially, after formal notification to the other party,” emphasizes the report.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed or attempted to cross the borders of three European Union member states bordering Belarus (Lithuania, Latvia and Poland) in recent months. The EU sees this as a hybrid aggression from Minsk.
After receiving a strong international backlash for a Ryanair plane landing in Minsk, Lukashenko said in May that Western countries would now have to fight drug trafficking and illegal migration from their country.
“We used to stop drugs and migrants; now you will eat them and catch them yourself,” Lukashenko said.
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