Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko has admitted that Belarusian forces may have helped migrants cross the border into Poland. Asked if Belarusian security forces had helped migrants cross the border, Lukashenko said: “I think this is quite possible. We are Slavs. We have a heart. Our soldiers know that migrants are heading to Germany. “
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“Maybe someone helped them. I won’t even find out, “he said. He said that if migrants continued to flow into Belarus, he would not try to stop them, because he knew that Belarus was not their target. However, he denied that Minsk would invite refugees to the country, trying to provoke a migration crisis. “I did not invite them here. And to be honest, I don’t want them to travel through Belarus, “he stressed.
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The conversation took place the day after members of the Belarusian security forces on Thursday evacuated the makeshift camps, in which thousands of migrants had been living in the border zone with Poland in recent weeks. The refugees, mainly from the Middle East, were transferred to a logistics center near the Bruzhi-Kuźnica border crossing. “We do not know what they intend to do with them. We do not know if these people will be transported back to their countries of origin or if they will reappear at the border, “the Polish border guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska quoted the onet.pl portal.
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However, according to Belarusian independent journalist Tadeusz Giczan, there is no place for all migrants in the center and hundreds of people remain outside. “The refugees were also offered to stay in Belarus and ask for help in finding work or housing. They refused, “writes the state-run Belarusian news agency, according to which the refugees want to go to Germany.
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However, migrants moved from Belarus to Poland even after the camps were evacuated. “Around 5 pm, a group of about 500 people wanted to cross the border near our station in (village) Dubicz Cerkiewne. Stones, branches and tear gas flew on our security forces (…). The aggressive people were brought in by Belarusian trucks, which later removed some of the people from the group. The second part of the attackers scattered into the forest, “Michalská said on Friday. According to her, several soldiers were slightly wounded. Elsewhere, the 50-member group entered Polish territory, but the security forces returned it. However, Stanislaw Zharyn, a spokesman for the Polish intelligence coordination, told PAP that Thursday had been relatively quiet compared to the previous night.
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Lukashenko’s spokeswoman Natallya Eismant said on Thursday that there were around 7,000 migrants in Belarus. Two thousand of them are then in areas near the border. It is this number that Belarus wants to let go further along the corridor to Germany. The remaining five thousand, according to Eismant, should return home, she quotes her words server RFE/RL.
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The first repatriation flight on Thursday returned 430 people aboard Iraqi Airlines. According to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, further repatriation flights will follow. However, according to RFE / RL, the flight scheduled for Friday has disappeared from the flight schedule at Minsk airport.
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The West accuses Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime of attracting migrants to the country and then sending them to the EU’s borders. Minsk is said to be taking revenge for the sanctions imposed by the Union on its regime for human rights violations. The Belarusian side denies such allegations.
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Friday’s interview with the British BBC criticizes Belarusian opposition led by leader Sviatlana Cichanouska. She does not like the fact that the British public media “devoted space” to the dictator.
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