Belarus Says Does Not Desire Any Conflicts on Its Borders, EU Agrees to Sanctions
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says that "Minsk does not want the migrant crisis to escalate into a conflict."
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
Belarus' President said on Monday that his country "does not desire any conflicts on its borders.”
“I want to emphasize once again: we do not want any conflict on our state border. This is absolutely troublesome for us", President Lukashenko added.
The Belarusian President added that Minsk is ready to send the "refugees" home, but they do not wish to return to their countries, as quoted by the state-run Belta news agency.
Poland fears armed provocations
Meanwhile, the head of the Polish presidency’s International Policy Bureau Jakub Kumoch said that Poland fears armed provocations at the state border with Belarus.
"We must be ready for anything. The people on the border, the soldiers, all the time, every day, every night, face provocations. We have seen the use of the laser, we know that there are snipers. Our people are ready for various options for the development of the situation. We are, of course, afraid of an armed provocation," Kumoch told Polskie Radio Program III.
The situation at the border between Poland and Belarus has deteriorated in recent weeks, with thousands of immigrants stranded on the Belarusian side.
EU approves sanctions over “illegal migration” in Belarus
A source in the European Union told Sputnik that the EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels on Monday on criteria for imposing sanctions “against those who facilitate illegal migration from Belarus to the EU”.
The source did not mention when a new sanctions list over the Belarus migration crisis will be issued, according to Sputnik.
Russia to help solve migration crisis
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that “Russia acts as a negotiator in solving the EU-Belarus migration crisis”, stressing that Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes that Minsk and Brussels will begin direct talks.
Peskov told reporters that he rejects the statement of the US State Department, which considered that "Belarus' actions on the border with the European Union aim at diverting attention from Russian military activities near Ukraine."
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to help resolve the crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border.
"We are ready to do everything possible to help [resolve the crisis], if, of course, there is something that depends on us," Putin said on Rossiya 1.
The President denied Saturday that Moscow has any relation to the migrant crisis that has seen hundreds of migrants coming from West Asia getting stuck on the Belarusian-Polish border.
President Putin cast the blame for the crisis on the West's policies in West Asia, and condemned Polish allegations that claim Russian involvement.
