“Discussions continued on the situation on the Belarusian border with EU countries. It was confirmed that it was important to resolve the ongoing acute migration crisis in accordance with international humanitarian standards as soon as possible,” the Kremlin’s press statement said Putin and Merkel.
Putin “spoke in favor of resuming contacts between EU countries and Belarus to resolve the issue,” the statement said.
This is the second telephone conversation between Merkel and Putin in two days.
In a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Merkel asked Putin to influence Minsk over the migrant crisis on Belarus’ border with EU countries.
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.
Addressing his country’s parliament on Tuesday, Polish Prime Minister Matthew Moravecki accused Putin of being the true curator of the migrant crisis in Belarus.
“The leader of this attack by Lukashenko is in the person of President Putin in Moscow,” the Polish prime minister said in an extraordinary session of the Polish parliament.
