MINSK, 16 July (BelTA) – Lithuania profits from the politicization of migration problems in order to get additional dividends and funding. Chairman of the International Affairs and National Security Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Sergei Rachkov made the statement on the air of the Belarusian TV channel STV, BelTA has learned.
The senator said: “Belarus is a party to the convention on refugees and party to many international agreements without breaking their norms. We've done a lot for Europe by reinforcing the border and protecting Europe from illegal migration. Europeans appreciated it during some period of time. They understood that Belarusians were doing their job honestly. Now they've terminated a number of projects and have introduced sanctions. Why should we worry more about them than they worry about themselves? It is a logical question. About 120,000 foreign citizens with various statuses live in Belarus. Every year we also have certain problems with many of them, about 2,000-3,000 people. We have to either educate them or deport them, which also costs serious money. This is why we are now going to spend more of our own money, money of our taxpayers on domestic security, on public security.”
Sergei Rachkov is convinced: “The politicization of migration problems is beneficial for Lithuania because it provides additional dividends and funding.”
“For now the figures they mention and the figures the Belarusian side has do not indicate a migration crisis, a collapse, and so on. It is politicization, a desire to keep the matter of Belarus on their agenda. I would like to emphasize that our border service is very professional. In H1 2021 our border guards caught nearly five times more illegal migrants than they did in 2020. At the same time we have problems at the Belarusian-Lithuanian border: we've seized nearly eight times more drugs than we did in the previous three years,” the senator said.
