LONDON, November 22. /TASS/. Belarusian authorities have not received a single shelter request from migrants that seek to enter the EU through the republic’s territory, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview for BBC, partially published by BelTA Monday.
"We have not received a single request to stay in Belarus so far. If we receive it, we will review these applications in accordance with the law and very fast, unlike you," he said.
He noted that he discussed the migrant crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border during his November 17 phone call with Acting Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.
"I asked [her] to take 2,100 [refugees] in Germany. There are children there, the situation is horrifying. I know you see this, take them. And about 5,000 will stay with me. There is a total o about 7,000 [refugees in Belarus]. I will work on sending them back to Iraq, Syria, Iran, where they came from, and Afghanistan," he said.
The crisis at the border between Belarus and Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, where migrants have been converging to since the beginning of this year, escalated sharply on November 8. Several thousand people approached the Polish border from the Belarusian side; some of them attempted to break into the Polish territory, breaking barbed wire barriers.
On November 16, several groups of migrants broke through the Polish barrier and started throwing rocks and sticks at the Polish law enforcement forces. In response, Polish policemen used flashbangs and water cannons. In two days, about 2,000 migrants moved from the border area to the nearby logistics facility.
EU countries accused Minsk of deliberate escalation of the crisis and call for imposition of sanctions. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claims that the responsibility lies with the West itself, whose actions force people to flee from war.