Original title: Lukashenko approved the EU’s refusal to accept refugees, saying that he did not want to conflict with Poland
Reference News Network reported on November 23. According to a report by AFP on November 22 in Moscow, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that the European Union refused to discuss the fate of the 2,000 immigrants who wish to travel to Europe but are currently stranded in Belarus.
According to reports, the West accuses Belarus of letting those who want to immigrate—mostly from the Middle East—inbound and take them to the border areas with EU member states Poland and Lithuania, promising that they can cross the border easily.
Belarus denies this claim, and in turn criticizes the EU for not accepting these immigrants.
Lukashenko told officials on Monday: “I am waiting for the EU to respond to the problem of these 2,000 refugees.” He also said that he hopes Europe will allow these migrants to enter.
The official Belarusian news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying: “They said that (German Chancellor) Merkel promised me that they would consider this issue at the EU level. But they did not do so.”
Lukashenko said that despite the call from the Belarusian Foreign Minister, European officials refused to make any contact on the matter. He said: “We should ask the Germans to accept them.”
German government spokesman Stefan Seibert said on Monday that Berlin made it clear last week that this was unacceptable.
Saibet said: “The idea of opening a route to Germany for 2,000 immigrants… is not an acceptable solution for Germany or the European Union.”
The report noted that earlier this month, Belarus cleared a temporary border camp and sent 2,000 migrants to a nearby logistics center.
Last week, Lukashenko and Merkel made two phone calls to discuss the immigration crisis and agreed to maintain contact.
According to a report from Reuters Moscow/Warsaw on November 22, Belarusian President Lukashenko said on Monday that Belarus does not want to conflict with Poland, but hopes that the EU can receive 2,000 immigrants trapped in its borders. Earlier, Warsaw warned that tensions caused by trapped migrants might escalate.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned on the 21st that the immigration crisis at the Belarusian border may herald “worse things to happen.” Polish border guards said that the Belarusian army is still transporting migrants to the border.
The Belarusian News Agency quoted Lukashenko as saying that he did not want the situation to escalate.
Lukashenko said: “We want to let the Poles, let everyone know that we are not barbarians, we don’t want conflicts. We don’t need conflicts. Because we know that if we do too much, war cannot be done. Avoid. And that would be a disaster. We understand this very well. We don’t want any kind of escalation.”
Poland has threatened that if the situation fails to improve, it will cut off a railway line between the two countries.
The Belarusian News Agency quoted Lukashenko as saying that this threat may backfire. He said that in that case, railway traffic might diverge through a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.
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