Green light from the EU Council to extend the sanctions regime against Belarus. The decision, taken at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union, allows Brussels to target individuals and entities that organize or contribute to activities of the Lukashenko regime that facilitate the illegal crossing of the EU’s external borders.
«Today’s decision reflects the determination of the European Union to resist the exploitation of migrants for political ends. We are rejecting this inhuman and illegal practice. At the same time, we continue to underline the unacceptable repression by the regime against its own population and we will respond accordingly, ”commented Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Borrell, on his arrival in Brussels, said he had spoken yesterday with his Belarusian counterpart and called “the situation completely unacceptable, and that humanitarian access must be provided for assistance to migrants and we must think about how we can solve the problem. problem, starting with the stopping of the flow of flights “.
Borrell then explained that today “a new package of sanctions against the Belarusians responsible for this situation would be approved and we will broaden the model” of sanctions “to include other people, airlines and travel agencies involved in this illegal migrant situation”.
The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov spoke on the migrant situation. Russia could help resolve the migrant crisis on the Belarusian border with the EU as a negotiating mediator announced to reporters, quoted by Tass. The Kremlin spokesman was asked how the Russian Federation could help resolve this crisis. “In this case, only as a negotiating mediator,” Peskov said. Speaking on the issue of migrants on the border between Belarus and Poland, the press secretary of the president of the Russian Federation stated that: “It is absolutely wrong to place all the blame for the situation at the border on the Belarusian president Lukashenko.”
Meanwhile, the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, said that “Belarus is ready to send migrants back to their homeland, but they do not want to return”. The Minsk leader also warned that migrants could be transferred by plane with the Belavia company to Germany if Poland does not open “humanitarian corridors”: “We will send them to Munich with our planes if necessary”.
The Belarusian president has assured that he does not want to end up in a “conflict” with the EU, a situation that would be “absolutely harmful to us”. Thousands of migrants have been blocked for days on the border between Poland and Belarus; Brussels accuses Minsk of orchestrating the flow of people to put pressure on the EU in retaliation and new sanctions against the Belarusian regime are under discussion in today’s Council of Foreign Ministers.
And Iraq announced next Thursday the first repatriation flight, on a “voluntary” basis, for its citizens stranded on the Poland-Belarus border, while Lithuania is calling for Minsk to become a “no fly zone” to prevent others from disembarking there. migrants. French minister Le Drian, who participates in the EU Council of Foreign Ministers in Brussels, says that “France supports the adoption of a fifth package of sanctions against Belarus”.