Putin tells the West to address the migrant issue directly with Minsk



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“Go talk to the Belarusian authorities, what are you talking about?” Russia has done nothing here, “Putin told a press conference after a meeting with authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow.

Therefore, Putin commented on the calls made by Western leaders to influence Minsk to solve the problem of Afghans concentrated on the Lithuanian-Polish border.

“Colleagues from the West and leaders from some European countries ask me to take joint action, causing the crisis on the Belarusian border with Lithuania and Poland, and ask that it affect me in some way.” The answer is very simple: it is not our turn, it is not our border, it is the border of Belarus and the borders of Lithuania and Poland ”, he said.

Lukashenko, for his part, said the West was asking Putin to put pressure on Minsk for migrants and thanked him for his position on the issue.

“The European Union and others are trying to solve this problem, even making some claims to Russia, my colleague. [V. Putinui]. You are supposed to influence, press Lukashenko, “he said.

“I am grateful to you for your post, which says: Belarus has a leadership, a government, please contact us, solve this problem there,” he said.

Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed or tried to cross the borders of three European Union member states that border Belarus (Lithuania, Latvia and Poland) in recent months. The EU sees this as a hybrid aggression from Minsk.

The EU mission in Minsk protested to Belarus on Wednesday about the increase in migratory flows at the country’s border with member states.

“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.



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