Russia and Belarus are not helping migrants flock to the border between this country and Poland, the deputy Russian ambassador to the UN defended on Thursday, also assuring that his country had no plan to invade Ukraine.
“No, absolutely not,” diplomat Dmitry Polyanskiy said of possible aid to migrants before an emergency closed-door Security Council meeting called at the request of Estonia, France and from Ireland and which dealt with the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland.
Asked about movements of fighter planes observed in the skies of Belarus, Dmitry Polyanskiy explained that it was a “response to the massive deployment” of armed Polish guards on the Polish-Belarusian border.
“We have obligations within the framework of the unity between Russia and Belarus,” he added. “If there is a concentration of military resources on the border with Belarus, we must react. These are just reconnaissance flights, nothing more, it’s a normal activity, ”he insisted.
Migrants “are people who have come to Belarus legally and are seeking to enter European countries, especially Germany. They are not allowed to cross the border, are pursued, beaten. It is a total shame and a complete violation of international conventions, ”said Dmitry Polyanskiy, judging that a way out of the crisis can only go through dialogue.
The Russian diplomat criticized the lack of transparency on the crisis on the Polish side, where, at the border, he said, journalists and NGOs do not have access, unlike, according to him, to the side. Belarusian border.
At the end of my patience
Referring to a “masochist tendency”, the deputy Russian ambassador also considered that the Europeans’ request for a seizure of the Security Council was “shameful”.
After the emergency meeting, which lasted just over half an hour, Estonia, France, Ireland, the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement condemning a “Instrumentalization of human beings orchestrated” by Belarus in order to “destabilize the external border of the European Union” (EU) and “the neighboring countries”.
Earlier Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Europe to resume dialogue with his protégé, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
In a telephone interview with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the second in two days, Mr Putin said that the resolution of this “serious migration crisis” required “the reestablishment of contacts between the countries of the EU and Belarus ”, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
But, at the end of patience, Berlin judged Thursday that it was “high time to draw the consequences” of this crisis by strengthening the sanctions against the regime of Mr. Lukashenko. Measures are expected early next week, according to Brussels.
Gas threat
On the strength of Russian support, Lukashenko threatened Thursday to respond to possible sanctions by shutting off the valves of a major gas pipeline supplying Europe, at a time when the continent is already facing shortages.
“What would happen if we cut the natural gas going out there? “Launched the man who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994. But in an exclusive interview with AFP, his main opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, who lives in exile, considered that Mr. Lukashenko” was bluffing “, calling on the EU not to engage in dialogue with this “illegitimate” leader.
Brussels accuses Minsk of having put in place logistics to attract and transport migrants to the Polish border, with the promise of easy access to the Schengen area.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who accused Lukashenko’s regime of “state terrorism”, argued Thursday that his country was the target of a “new kind of war” that uses civilians as “ammunition”.