MINSK, 3 September (BelTA) – Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland violate international norms, their own legislation, and provisions of bilateral agreements with Belarus, which results in a complicated situation with migrants at the border. Deputy Chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus Roman Podlinev made the statement in an interview with RIA Novosti, BelTA has learned.
The official noted that international conventions on rights of refugees and legislation of the European Union allow foreigners to seek asylum in the entire territory of the European Union. “Our colleagues from Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland simply deny opportunities for refugees to request this status. They are trying to expel refugees to Belarus' territory right away. This is why this situation has evolved. They violate their own legislation, international norms, and provisions of bilateral agreements with Belarus,” Roman Podlinev said.
Speaking about ways out of the situation around migrants, who are stuck at the border, the official stressed that first and foremost it is necessary to observe the legislation and take into account rights of refugees. “The problem cannot be resolved by building a fence or increasing the number of military personnel at the border. They simply detect refugees more often and employ force more often in order to move them to Belarus' territory. International commitments and national legislation need to be observed in neighboring countries of the European Union,” Roman Podlinev stressed.
Roman Podlinev assured that Belarus is open to contacts with Western colleagues and looks forward to resuming cooperation, particularly within the framework of transboundary projects. “But the other side does not have the initiative or political will, the desire to resume cooperation for now. Neighboring countries are more intent on showing the ‘migration crisis' and using the refugees as a pretext in order to get funding for the accomplishment of their borders, hide lack of their professionalism in this sphere, and saddle Belarus with the responsibility for what is going on,” Roman Podlinev said.
The deputy chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus also responded to Western colleagues' accusations of border violations by Belarusian border service personnel. “These accusations are groundless. They provide no evidence. It is yet another provocation meant to besmirch the Belarusian border service and portray Belarus as a whole in a negative light,” Roman Podlinev stated.
The official noted that representatives of neighboring countries try to use force to move migrants to the Belarusian territory every day. “Every day we get reports that neighboring countries use force to expel refugees. We register about 10-12 attempts like that at the border every day,” Roman Podlinev noted.
“We help how we can if we see that someone has been beaten up, that his or her life is in danger. We've had about 15 cases when foreigners in a critical condition had to be hospitalized. In many cases we provided medical aid at the border while the other side did absolutely nothing,” Roman Podlinev added.
