Europe’s migration crisis caused by US policy of imposing its standards — Putin

VLADIVOSTOK, September 4. /TASS/. The current migration crisis in Europe was absolutely expected, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters at the Eastern Economic Forum on Friday.

The crisis is rooted in the wrong foreign policy that the West and namely the United States conducts in the Middle East and Northern Africa, Putin said, reminding that Russia warned its partners about the possible consequences several years ago.

"What is this policy about? This is imposing its standards without taking into consideration historic, religious, national and cultural specifics of these regions," Putin said. "This is first of all, the policy of our American partners."

Putin said he was surprised how the US mass media criticize Europe for cruelty against migrants. He stressed that the US is not affected by this migrant flow while Europe, which blindly follows Washington's instructions, suffers the most.

On Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Europe could learn from Russia how to deal with the refugees. She reminded that Russia has accommodated hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine."These people were provided with shelter, food and benefits," she said. The diplomat expressed concerns about the EU’s "helplessness" over the influx of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.

Europe has been at the epicenter of the unprecedented migration crisis. In the past months, the flow of migrants and refugees from Africa and the Middle East, and particularly Syria, to the European countries has increased.

In the recent weeks, the migrants have been storming border fences, trains and ferry boats. According to the European Commission, since the start of the year, more than 400,000 migrants have officially applied for asylum in 28 EU member-states. The flow of illegal migrants may reach 1 million people, a five-fold increase compared with last year.