MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pointed to the existence of criminal groups involved in illegal migration in neighboring Lithuania.

"Why don’t they see this? As soon as they liquidate the groups that get illegal migrants into Lithuania for money, illegal migration to Lithuania will be lower than last year, there will be very little of it," Lukashenko said in an interview with Sky News Arabia in comments on accusations hurled out at Minsk over its role in illegal migration. The BelTA news agency quoted extracts from the interview on Monday.

"If they (Lithuanians, Poles, Germans or French) want to conceal the truth, then Belarus can be reproached for having a hand in this migration," Lukashenko said. "If they want to truly fight against illegal migration, bring this illegal migration back to normal, then let them start with themselves," the Belarusian leader said.

He believes that it would be strange for Lithuania to demand of Belarus protection against illegal migrants in the current situation. They imposed sanctions against Belarus, seeking to stifle the country and its people, Lukashenko stressed. "I am the president of these people. I must take certain actions, assessing the situation, so that the people not be stifled and the country destroyed," Lukashenko said.

Work to thwart illegal activity on the border, be it illegal migration, arms or drug smuggling, necessitates major amounts of financing, the president noted. "If you want us to help you in this, then don’t put a noose around our neck," he summed up.

Migration issue

Earlier reports said that in addition to installing razor wire, Lithuania would build a fence along the border with Belarus, from where Asian migrants have been crossing into Lithuania in large numbers since June. On July 2, the Lithuanian Cabinet of Ministers declared a state of emergency in view of a sharp rise in the inflow of migrants. Late in May, Lukashenko said that his country was a barrier to the smuggling of drugs and illegal migrants into the neighboring country, but given the West’s political pressure on Minsk, it may reconsider this.

Situation in Belarus

Nationwide demonstrations engulfed Belarus following the August 9, 2020 presidential election. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. However, she refused to recognize the election’s outcome, and left Belarus for Lithuania.

After last August’s presidential elections in Belarus, a number of European countries and the US did not recognize the election results and deemed that the actions of Belarusian law enforcement against protesters were excessive. Against this background, the West has repeatedly imposed sanctions and other restrictions aimed at Belarus. The EU’s economic sectoral sanctions against Belarus became effective at the end of June.