EU foreign ministers will consider a new package of sanctions against Belarus today in connection with the smuggling of migrants across the EU border, European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said today as he arrived in the Brussels Council.
Mr Borrell said the sanctions being considered were effective because they would target individuals, namely their well-being and ability to move. He added that the legal framework for imposing sanctions on airlines, travel agencies and all those involved in these illegal smuggling of migrants to the EU border is being considered.
He added that he had a telephone conversation yesterday, Sunday, with his Polish, Lithuanian and Belarusian counterparts, as well as with the UN Secretary General. During a conversation with the Belarusian Foreign Minister, Mr. Borrell said that he pointed out the “completely unacceptable” situation, the need for humanitarian aid and the need to resolve the problem by stopping flights and the flow of migrants.
At the same time, Borel said that in recent days there have been contacts and talks with the countries of origin and transit of migrants, from where the flows to the EU seem to be under control. He also noted that the Vice President of the Commission, Margaritis Schoinas, is currently in Baghdad.
In addition, the foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Varosia in occupied northern Cyprus, whose regime Turkey seeks to change. The European External Action Service is currently working on a number of options for responding to Turkish actions, which will be presented to the December Council.
Belarus: We work for the return of migrants to their home countries
For his part, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said today that Minsk was working “actively” to repatriate migrants who had set up makeshift camps on the country’s border with the EU, but stressed that they did not want to leave.
“We are ready, as we have always been, to put them all on planes (…) which will take them home,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by the state-run Belta news agency.
“An intense campaign is being carried out to convince these people ‘please come back’, but no one wants that,” he added.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have been stranded on the border between Belarus and Poland for days.
“I want to emphasize this: we do not want any border clashes. “It would be very sad,” he said, while accusing Poland of “needing” this crisis because of “its internal problems” and the tension with its EU partners.
The EU accuses Minsk of organizing these migratory flows by issuing entry permits and chartering planes to transport migrants so that they can then cross the border into Poland and cross into the EU in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed on the Lukashenko regime. last year after the violent suppression of opposition demonstrations.
In this context, the Belarusian airline Balavia announced on Sunday that Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and Yemenis are no longer allowed to board its aircraft in Dubai bound for Belarus.
Following pressure from European diplomats, Turkey also banned Syrians, Iraqis and Yemenis from traveling to Belarus.
Private Syrian airline Charm Wings Airlines has also suspended flights to Minsk.
At the same time, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry today denied as “absurd” the accusations of the West that the immigration crisis on the country’s borders is being carried out by Minsk.
Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz, speaking to Sputnik, also denied that Belavia was smuggling migrants in the past or that it planned to do so in the future.
“We have stated quite clearly, repeatedly and at various levels: the national airline OJSC Belavia has never transported, does not transport and will not transport refugees or irregular migrants,” he said.
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