MINSK, August 9. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has rejected the West’s accusations of conniving at illegal migration.

"They say: Lukashenko is sending migrants to us. Where is proof that Lukashenko is doing that? According to their data, around 5,000 people have crossed the border and they don’t know what to do with them," Lukashenko said on Monday at a meeting with journalists and public activists. "Their media and some bloggers were right when they say: we never knew that Lukashenko used to protect our border, we though our border guards are enough. Yes, we used to catch nearly all of them, 80 people crossed that border last year, as they say. Now the figure is around 5,000. Please, treat yourself - you wanted it. Am I not right? But I am not encouraging this process."

Under an agreement on simplified visa issuance procedures and readmission signed in January 2020, the European Union was expected to build accommodation centers for migrants but, according to Lukashenko, it stopped implementing this project. "They allocated money and began to build them. Later, they let it all hang out and focused on fighting against the dictatorship and stopped implementing their liabilities under the readmission agreement," he added.