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Warsaw statements on Aeroflot’s involvement in migration crisis are not true — Lavrov

The Russian Foreign Minister reminded that Aeroflot did not fly from the capitals of the countries from which the refugees were flowing to Europe

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. Warsaw's statements about the involvement of Russian airline Aeroflot in the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border are not true, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference.

"To put it very diplomatically, this is not true. And, as far as I know, Aeroflot does not fly from the capitals of the countries from which the refugees are flowing to Europe, after Europe and America bombed those countries. <...> to the capital of the Republic of Belarus," he said, responding to a request from TASS to comment on Warsaw's statements that the Polish authorities have information about Aeroflot's connection with the migration crisis at the border.

Earlier, Aeroflot denied allegations of its involvement in the situation on the Belarusian-Polish border, noting that it does not operate flights to cities in Iraq and Syria.

The migrant crisis on the border of Belarus with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland deteriorated dramatically on November 8. Several thousand people approached the Polish border from the Belarusian side and are not leaving the border zone. Some of them have tried to cross into Poland by cutting razor wire fences. The European Union is accusing Minsk of intentionally escalating the crisis and has called for sanctions. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko blamed the situation on Western countries themselves, since it was their actions that had prompted people to flee the war in their homelands.

The Western countries’ charges that the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and the European Union is a "hybrid operation" by President Alexander Lukashenko are lies, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.