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Russia can't solve migration issues at expense of halting anti-terror fight, says Lavrov

On Feb 28, Reuters reported citing a Turkish official that Ankara had decided not to stop Syrian refugees, who are seeking to flee to Europe by land and sea routes

HELSINKI, March 3. /TASS/. Russia cannot contribute to solving the problem of migration from Syria at the expense of ending the war on terror, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference after talks with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto on Tuesday.

"We cannot contribute to solving migration problems at the expense of ending the war on terror, what some politicians in Europe are calling for," Lavrov said.

"We are fully aware that the migrants’ problem is complicated for the European Union. We are holding dialogue on migration issues between Russia and the European External Action Service. We will continue it and we will seek to contribute to solving this problem," Russia’s top diplomat noted.

On February 28, Reuters news agency reported citing a Turkish official that Ankara had decided not to stop Syrian refugees, who are seeking to flee to Europe by land and sea routes. The personnel of Turkey’s police, coast guard service and border checkpoints have been ordered not to stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe. This decision was made after 36 Turkish troops had been killed in Syria’s Idlib.

According to the latest data announced by Turkish Minister of the Interior Suleyman Soylu, more than 110,000 migrants have crossed Turkey’s border with the EU after Ankara made a decision on opening the border for refugees.