MOSCOW, November 16. /TASS/. The European Union applies double standards in the migrant crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border, making matters worse, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"Poland behaves outrageously, while the leadership in Brussels applies double standards that are so apparent and naked that they can’t fail to understand that they are embarrassing themselves," Lavrov said at a news conference.
Lavrov said Poland’s use of tear gas against refugees was unacceptable. "They cannot fail to realize that they are in violation of all the conceivable rules of international humanitarian law," he said. "Of course, they realize that."
About 2,000 migrants, mostly from Iraq, have been staying at the Belarusian-Polish border for nine days, with the aim of reaching Germany via Poland. On Monday, the migrants left a makeshift camp near a Belarusian border outpost and are congregated immediately in front of the Polish fence. The Polish forces have drawn reinforcements to the Kuznica outpost.
Experts, reporters
One of the goals for Poland is to prevent publicity for its actions, the minister said. Reporters for CNN, the BBC and other news media are working on the Belarusian side of the border, Lavrov said.
"Polish colleagues are hiding their actions not only from the media but also from the EU," he said.
There are EU agencies, such as the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Europol, European Asylum Support Office that have been created to deal with situations like this and would like to send their representatives to the Polish side of the border, he said.
"But they aren’t allowed to send their experts there to paint an unbiased picture and develop recommendations for Brussels," Lavrov said.
Moscow will push Warsaw for an immediate stop of the outrageous treatment of RT France television reporters that were detained on the Polish-Belarusian border, he said. They were "detained, taken somewhere, charged and fined," he said.