Lukashenko blackmails Lithuania with promises to limit migrant flows / Article

Belarus can help Lithuania fight growing illegal migration across the border, but “not for free,” said Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s authoritarian leader.

In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Lukashenko said that Western countries had imposed sanctions on Minsk in an attempt to “suffocate Belarus”.

Earlier, Lukashenko said in connection with the new European Union sanctions that Belarus would no longer protect Europe from illegal immigrants and smuggling. If Lithuania needs help, then Minsk can provide it, but not for free, Lukashenko said in an interview.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielis Landsbergis Lukashenko’s statements were blackmailed. He warned that if Minsk did not continue to encourage the flow of migrants, Lithuania would initiate new sanctions.

CONTEXT:

In the summer of 2021 the number of migrants has increased significantly, which is trying to enter the territory of Lithuania from Belarus. Most migrants are refugees from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Lithuanian officials believe that the Belarusian authorities does not deliberately obstruct border crossingto punish Lithuania for supporting the Belarusian opposition and imposing sanctions on the Alexander Lukashenko regime. Lithuania describes such action as a hybrid war against the European Union.

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