Until now, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has flatly rejected all accusations from the EU, NATO and the United States that the country has created a migrant crisis with the help of false promises to offer an easy way into the EU.
Now the man, who has kept Belarus in his iron grip for 27 years, strikes back.
In an exclusive interview with BBC The 67-year-old says the following, among other things:
– We have heart warmth. Our military knows that the migrants are on their way to Germany. Maybe someone has helped them. I will not even go any further with this.
Tear gas and laser
On Friday, 45 migrants were apprehended by Polish border guards after trying to cross the Belarusian border.
– Do not dare let the children sleep
They were part of two different groups that threw stones and boxes of tear gas at the border guards, according to spokeswoman Anna Michalska for the Polish border guard.
At the same time, she accused security forces from Belarus of using lasers in an attempt to dazzle the Polish border guards. She also believes that it is Belarus that gave the migrants the tear gas.
– It is obvious that they did not bring this from their home countries, she said according to international news agencies.
Critical Stoltenberg
In recent months, thousands of migrants have tried to enter the EU via Belarus.
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Both the EU and the US announced new sanctions against Belarus earlier this week. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US could impose further sanctions.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg is among those who have been very critical of the migrant crisis in Belarus.
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– What we see is that Lukashenko’s regime uses vulnerable people as a means of pressure against other countries. It is cynical and inhumane, and therefore the NATO countries have in a joint statement condemned this behavior, Stoltenberg said before a meeting with German Prime Minister Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday.
Still rented
Mr Lukashenko has so far denied all such allegations. In the interview with the BBC, the president maintains that he will not arrest migrants who reach the border, and claims that he has informed the EU about this.
Bad news from the Eastern Front
– I do not want to stop them. Because they’re not going to my country. They are going to you, he continues.
– But I have not invited them. And to be honest, I also do not want them to move through Belarus, adds the man whom the Western world does not recognize as the legally elected head of state.
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