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Lukashenko refutes claims that Belarus facilitates illegal migration

The president reiterated that the migrants are heading to Europe not only via Belarus but following other routes as well

MINSK, September 30. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has refuted statements by Poland’s leadership that the Belarusian side is facilitating the increased flow of refugees to the West in an interview with CNN on Thursday, the BelTA news agency reported.

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President describes migrant situation on Belarusian border as humanitarian disaster

"Do you have the facts that I am pushing these people (migrants - TASS) to the border with Poland? No, and you cannot possibly have them," the Belarusian president noted.

The Belarusian leader also sharply reacted to CNN correspondent Matthew Chance’s remark that, according to the Polish authorities, the refugees are drugged and delivered to the border by force. "This is madness. Everything that the Polish government does is insanity. You are saying that we are feeding drugs to people? Present the facts! If there are such facts, I will bear the responsibility," the Belarusian president said. "One has to sort things out. Why don’t you want to sort out what is happening on the border? We are ready for it," he noted.

Lukashenko reiterated that the migrants are heading to Europe not only via Belarus but following other routes as well. "So many people are dying there in the hundreds. By crossing the Mediterranean Sea thousands of people get into the EU. In exactly the same way they went through Belarus. They are not coming to us - they are coming to you. Because you invited them there. Why did you invite them there?" the head of state inquired. "Why now you are not admitting people who are fleeing war in those countries you devastated? Had they been coming to Belarus and wanted to remain while we expelled them to Poland or Lithuania, you would have objected. Yet now there are no such people who want to stay in Belarus and I am throwing them out," the Belarusian leader said.

Since August, almost 10,000 migrants have attempted to illegally cross the Belarusian-Polish border. Some 1,200 illegal migrants have been detained and housed at guarded centers in Poland. The Polish authorities pin the blame on the Belarusian leadership which, according to Warsaw, allegedly transports the migrants to Belarus and then ships them to the border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in order to provoke the migration crisis in Europe.

At the end of May, Lukashenko stated that his country served as a barrier on the path of human trafficking to neighboring countries, however, considering the West’s political pressure, Minsk may think twice about continuing to block the flow.

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Alexander Lukashenko Migration

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