Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir McKay has accused the European Union (EU) of provoking a migrant crisis and accused the bloc of rejecting talks on measures to strengthen the border.
“We would be interested in resolving the crisis as soon as possible,” Mackay told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
He noted the EU’s decision last year to suspend funding for Belarus’s projects to strengthen the border and build migrant accommodation centers.
Funding was suspended as the West imposed sanctions on Minsk for repressing the opposition.
In response, Minsk suspended an agreement with Brussels on the readmission of illegal immigrants.
“We have offered to consult the European Union on this issue, but we have been denied it,” McCay said.
“Since then, we have proposed a dialogue on this issue countless times, but we have not received a positive response,” the minister added.
As part of an extensive hybrid attack on the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, attempts have been made in recent months to send thousands of illegal immigrants from Belarus to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, most of whom have arrived in Belarus as tourists from Iraq.
The EU has accused the Minsk regime of seeking to avenge support for the Belarusian opposition and of sanctions against Belarus in response to last year’s violent crackdown on protests.
McCay said in an interview that the crisis was the result of “the European Union’s reckless policy of destroying statehood in several countries.”
He added that Belarus would take “the most decisive steps” to prevent a conflict on the border.
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