The refugee crisis in the border area between Belarus and Poland intensifies Russia calls on EU countries to abandon double standards
2021-11-10 09:59:17Source: China News Network
China News Agency, Moscow, November 9th (Zhang Meng Tianbing) The Russian Presidential Information Bureau issued a notice on the 9th that Russian President Putin and Belarusian President Lukashenko had a phone call on the same day regarding refugees in the Belarus-Poland and Belarus-Lithuania border areas. The situation exchanged views.
The refugee crisis in the border area between Belarus and Poland has recently been heating up. According to Russian media reports, on the 8th local time, thousands of refugees gathered in Belarus arrived at the border area between Belarus and Poland. Some of them tried to enter Poland forcibly through the Kuznica border crossing.
Poland has stepped up its guard in the border area with Belarus. According to the Polish Ministry of Defense, there are currently approximately 12,000 soldiers deployed on the border. Videos on social networks show that Polish border guards are confronting refugees on the other side of the barbed wire fence. Some refugees tried to destroy the barbed wire with shovels and other tools. In response, Polish soldiers used tear gas to disperse them. In Warsaw, the refugee crisis has been called “the largest attempt to infiltrate Polish territory by force to date.” A spokesman for the Polish government said on the 8th that the use of force to prevent the influx of refugees is not ruled out. Polish President Duda stated at a press conference that the Belarusian authorities are responsible for the incidents that occurred on the eastern border of the country.
In addition, the Lithuanian government approved the proposal of the Ministry of Interior to declare a state of emergency in the border area between Lithuania and Belarus on the 9th to prevent similar refugee crises. However, the Lithuanian Parliament will decide whether to implement a state of emergency or not.
The Belgian News Agency quoted reports from the Belarusian border defense agency that among these refugees were women and children. Most of the refugees did not act aggressively, but some people acted desperately because of Poland’s actions. The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned Poland, “Don’t use any provocations against White to defend yourself against possible illegal and violent actions against unarmed people.”
According to Russian media reports, since the beginning of 2021, more than 30,000 refugees have tried to cross the Belarusian border into Poland. It is reported that most of these refugees are from the Middle East and Africa. Belarus recently announced the release of refugees into the European Union in response to the EU’s sanctions on Minsk.
The TASS news agency quoted Russian Presidential Spokesperson Peskov as saying that Moscow is worried about the refugee situation in the border area between Belarus and Poland and hopes that it will not pose a threat to Russia’s security. Peskov emphasized that the lives and health of refugees gathered in border areas are the most important.
According to RIA Novosti, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zakharova wrote in her social media account on the 9th, “The tension in Europe has been increasing for many years. This is mainly because it caters to a non-European country. Policy, lost independence in the implementation of foreign policy, at the same time irresponsibly interfered in sovereign state affairs, and adopted double standards in handling key democratic principles.” Zakharova’s move was in response to a statement made by the spokesperson of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The latter previously claimed that Russia is “using” the refugee crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus to lie and manipulate facts, “leading to increased tension in Europe.”
Zakharova emphasized that it is precisely because of the actions of the United States and its allies in the Middle East that have led to the large-scale flow of refugees and immigrants from this region to Europe.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated on the 9th that in the case of a refugee crisis at the border between Belarus and Poland and Lithuania, the EU should be responsible for its actions on the basis of full respect for the principles of international law. He called on EU countries not to adopt double standards in this refugee crisis. “These people don’t want to stay in Belarus or Turkey. They want to go to Europe-a place where they have promoted their way of life for many years,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov believes that the root of the crisis lies in the policies that NATO and the European Union have been pursuing in the Middle East and North Africa over the years, trying to forcibly export “Western-style democracy.” He pointed out that Iraq, Libya and Syria are all victims of this policy.
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