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West considers migration crisis as international hybrid threat — Belarusian president says

According to Lukashenko, the migration crisis also became a reason for NATO to build up its military potential on the Western borders of the CSTO
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

MINSK, September 16. /TASS/. The Western countries turn a blind eye to the serious breaches of human rights obligations against the background of the migration crisis that they consider to be an international hybrid threat, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday in Dushanbe.

"The Western countries turn a blind eye to the serious breaches of human rights obligations. In recent weeks, incidents have been taking place on the border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia on a daily basis. Migrants from Afghanistan and other countries such as Iraq and Syria were brutally pushed into the national territory of Belarus," the BelTA news agency reported, quoting Lukashenko.

"They are trying to make incidents on the border with refugees and migrants. It’s considered an international hybrid threat. Attempts are being made to shift the responsibility for the migration problem to the transit countries. All this happened after what the United States and its NATO allies have done in Afghanistan and the countries of the Middle East. They invited Afghans to Europe at the order of the United States and now refuse to accept them".

According to him, the migration crisis became a reason for NATO to build up its military potential on the Western borders of the CSTO. A grouping of troops with over 10,000 personnel and more than 500 pieces of heavy military equipment has been permanently deployed near the Belarusian borders. "Moreover, this month new NATO units have been used for hybrid influence on our countries under the pretext of combating illegal migration in Lithuania," Lukashenko said.

Western countries are using double standards in a bid to keep out migrants using a fence that will cost millions of dollars to build." It’s a useless idea. If we dig deep into this situation, it’s possible to talk about the creation of new dividing lines in Europe with the use of barbed wire in the fullest sense," Lukashenko concluded.