MINSK, November 3. /TASS/. Belarus won't do the European Union any favors by catching illegal migrants on their way there as long as sanctions against Minsk remain in place, President Alexander Lukashenko said at the IV Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security.
"I told them straight up: you're choking me [with sanctions], you've put a noose around my neck, why should I catch someone to protect you? That was the case before these sanctions," he said. "You’ve slapped sanctions and started strangling us. And you want me to continue this policy? Here's a straightforward answer to this question: we won't catch anyone."
Lukashenko said that European countries are the ones inviting migrants into their nations.
"Moreover, it was you who invited them there. You don't have enough human resources, you lack them. They're coming to you because you summoned them. Well, accept them and create human conditions for them," the Belarusian leader noted.