Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Valentin Rybakov in an interview RIA News accused the authorities of Poland and Lithuania of seeking to “siphon” money from the European Union (EU) with the help of the migration crisis that erupted at the border.
“Poland and Lithuania are just using the situation around migrants to their maximum advantage, just as an excuse to siphon extra money from the European Union and to justify their anti-immigrant policy and numerous violations of their international obligations,” Rybakov said.
He also said that Warsaw and Vilnius are trying to increase their importance in the eyes of Western politicians by demonizing Belarus.
Earlier, the deputy head of the presidential administration of Belarus Olga Chupris suggested the leaders of Poland, Lithuania and other EU countries to start a dialogue with the official Minsk on overcoming the migration crisis.
In early November, groups of migrants from the Middle East gathered in Belarus on the border with Poland and Lithuania, trying to break into the EU. The Polish authorities estimate their number at several thousand. The West claims that the Belarusian authorities themselves organized the current situation within the framework of a “hybrid war”.
The flow of migrants from Belarus to the EU has grown sharply this year after President Alexander Lukashenko, against the backdrop of yet another aggravation of relations with the West, threatened to weaken control over the border.
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