MOSCOW, November 15. /TASS/. Moscow believes that the US Department of State’s claims Minsk’s actions regarding the migration crisis sow division and distract attention from Russia’s activities on the border with Ukraine are wrong, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday.
"We regard this statement as wrong. It is a misinterpretation of the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border," Peskov said.
"I would like to remind you that Russian President Vladimir Putin unequivocally said in an interview aired on Saturday that he absolutely ruled out any possibility of Russia’s involvement in what is happening to the migrants on the Belarusian-Polish border. In fact, the president explained why. The situation that is taking shape on the border was not created by Lukashenko. The migrants who arrive there using visa-free rules wish to seek refuge in Europe. They are denied it. They are not allowed there, but the people who are on the way there know perfectly well that in case of other countries migrants were welcomed quite hospitably," he added.
Peskov said that blaming Lukashenko for the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border was absolutely wrong.
"Putting the blame for the border situation on President Lukashenko, on the Belarusian side would be absolutely wrong. It is absolutely wrong to neglect the pan-European ideals of humanism, which [in the West] nobody wishes to recall in the context of this situation. For some reason, nobody wishes to recall the plight of the several thousand people - the refugees, who have been stranded on the border for nearly a week in very cold weather," Peskov said. The [US officials’] statement is fundamentally wrong and we disagree with it," Peskov said.
Earlier, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price issued a statement saying that Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday held a telephone conversation with Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau. "Secretary Blinken reaffirmed U.S. support for Poland in the face of the Lukashenko regime’s cynical exploitation of vulnerable migrants," Price said. "The actions by the Lukashenko regime threaten security, sow division, and aim to distract from Russia’s activities on the border with Ukraine."