Polish Prime Minister Matthew Moravecki’s claims that the real curator of the migration crisis in Belarus is Russian President Vladimir Putin are unacceptable, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
“We consider the words of the Polish Prime Minister that Russia is responsible for this situation to be completely irresponsible and unacceptable,” Peskov said at a press briefing.
Moscow is closely following the situation and sees signs of an impending humanitarian catastrophe, he said.
“It’s about the health and lives of thousands of people who are refugees and openly say they want to go further in the European Union (EU),” and “don’t even want to stay in Poland,” the Kremlin spokesman said of thousands of Middle Eastern countries. people who have come to Belarus as tourists at the urging of the Minsk regime and then are trying to enter an EU country illegally, accompanied by security forces.
Moscow does not see any military risks in Russia in this situation, Peskov added, but left unanswered whether any military action is planned in this regard.
“We remember the precedents of recent history when Europeans talked about the values that concern such people, refugees, their interests, and security on humanitarian grounds,” Peskov said, noting that refugees had previously had the right to live in the EU.
If Poland closes the border with Belarus, it will complicate the situation.
“This is nothing more than an attempt to stifle Belarus,” he added.
Addressing his country’s parliament on Tuesday, the Polish prime minister accused Putin of being the true curator of the Belarusian migrant crisis.
“This attack is being carried out by [Baltkrievijas diktators Aleksandrs] Lukashenko, the leader in Moscow, is in the person of President Putin, “addressing an extraordinary session of the Polish parliament, Moraveckis said.
In the past months, efforts have been made in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to send thousands of illegal immigrants from Belarus, most of them arriving in Belarus as tourists from Iraq, as part of an extensive hybrid attack on Belarus’s dictator Lukashenko.
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.
NATO on Monday condemned Belarus for its tactical use of migrants to put pressure on the EU, saying the alliance was worried about escalating its border with Poland.
Hundreds of migrants from Belarus were reportedly tried to break into Polish territory on Monday. This was the first attempt by migrants to cross the Polish border en masse, and was repulsed.
On Tuesday evening, the Polish news agency PAP announced that two large groups of migrants had nevertheless managed to break into Poland from Belarus.
All illegal immigrants who have entered Polish territory have been detained, Polish Defense Minister Marjusz Blaschak said on Wednesday morning.
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