Faced with the migration crisis on Belarus’s border with European Union countries, the Prime Minister of Germany, Angela Merkel, spoke by phone with dictator Aleksandr Lukachenko on Monday (15), according to a spokesman for the German government, in a rare link between the two leaders.
“The Prime Minister and Lukachenko spoke about the difficult situation on the borders of Belarus and the European Union — especially the need for humanitarian aid for refugees and migrants there,” German government spokesman Steffen said in a statement. Seibert. According to him, the two agreed to maintain a dialogue on these issues.
The first contact between the Belarusian dictator and a Western leader since last year’s election, the conversation comes in the wake of the tightening of European sanctions, generated by the migration crisis.
A fifth package of measures has been approved by the bloc’s foreign ministers and will be finalized in the coming days, announced the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell. The sanctions target airlines, travel agencies and individuals involved in this “illegal migrant pressure”.
The EU is trying to interrupt what it says is a policy of the Lukachenko dictatorship to push migrants towards the bloc’s countries, in revenge for sanctions applied after the regime’s crackdown on protesters who took to the streets to protest against the Belarusian leader’s re-election for the year past, in a lawsuit considered rigged.
Migrants — mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan — have started arriving at Belarus’s land borders with the EU this year, trying to cross to member countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, on routes that were not used before.
There are reports of food shortages and images on social media of bonfires and makeshift camps along the border. The region’s harsh cold promises a winter of suffering for refugees, who European officials say were purposely lured to Belarus — which it denies, saying migrants are legally in the country.
On another front, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, agreed on the need for a slowdown in the migration crisis, even though the two leaders disagree on the origin of the crisis, said an adviser to the French president at the meeting. Monday.
“The purpose of this call was to end this crisis,” a Macron aide said after the 1 hour and 45 minute call. “On the issue of migration, even if there is no convergence about its origin on the Belarusian border, Vladimir Putin told the president that he understood the need to put an end to it, first and foremost out of human decency for the migrants being instrumentalized.”
Also according to the advisor, France offered its full solidarity with Poland and remains ready to help.
Macron’s call echoes pressure from the White House, which urged Russia on Monday to use its pressure to stop the migration crisis. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the US is working with allies, including the EU, to deal with what the spokeswoman called the “exploitation and coercion of vulnerable people” carried out by the Lukachenko regime.
Earlier this year, Belarus became a focal point for refugees from war-affected countries. According to the EU and NATO, the attraction was aimed at creating a situation of instability at the borders of neighbors belonging to the blocs.
In the last second (8), the situation worsened with a series of attempted invasions by refugees in Poland. According to the Belarus government, 2,000 have already been returned to the country. With difficulty in face of the evidence, the Belarusian dictatorship denies that it has stimulated the movement and denounces the violence with which Poles treat anyone who manages to enter its borders.
The crisis also generated military movements. Britain and Russia sent in troops, and Putin deployed two strategic bombers to show support for the Lukashenko regime.
Faced with the situation, the Belarusian dictator also threatened to cut off the supply of Russian gas to Europe, which passes through its territory.
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