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Putin discusses migrant situation on Belarusian border with EU in phone call with Merkel

Vladimir Putin suggested that "direct contact between EU member states and Minsk" be established for the parties to discuss related problems

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel have held a telephone conversation, discussing the migrant situation on the border between Belarus and the European Union, the Kremlin press service said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The parties thoroughly discussed the migrant situation on the Belarusian borders with European Union countries and expressed concern about the humanitarian consequences of the migration crisis," the statement reads.

According to the Kremlin press service, the Russian president suggested that "direct contact between EU member states and Minsk" be established for the parties to discuss related problems. "Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel agreed to continue discussing the issue," the statement added.

German Government Spokesperson Steffen Seibert, in turn, wrote on Twitter that Merkel had asked Putin to influence Minsk with regard to the migrant situation on the Belarusian-Polish border. "She emphasized that it was inhuman and unacceptable on the part of the Belarusian regime to use migrants as a tool, and asked President Putin to influence the situation," Seibert noted.

Tensions caused by migrants seeking to enter Poland, Lithuania and Latvia via Belarus rose on November 8. Several hundred people arrived on the Belarusian-Polish border, some of trying to cut a barbed-wire fence to enter the EU. European Union nations claim that Minsk is deliberately escalating the crisis and call for sanctions. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in turn, blamed the situation on the Western countries whose actions forced people to flee wars.

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