MOSCOW, 10 September (BelTA) – Russia does not intend to get involved in the resolution of migration problems at Belarus' border with some countries of the European Union in any manner. President of Russia Vladimir Putin made the statement after negotiations with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko in Moscow on 9 September, BelTA has learned.
A Belarusian reporter asked Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin whether Minsk and Moscow might team up soon to resolve the humanitarian crisis that has deteriorated near the European Union border due to events in Afghanistan and continues gaining momentum while the European Union turns a blind eye, for instance, to actions of Polish authorities, who expel migrants instead of helping them and often resort to violence and special tools.
Vladimir Putin remarked that some Western colleagues of his and European leaders had invited him to work together to resolve problems with migrants at the Belarusian border and had wanted him to somehow influence the situation. “The answer is simple: it does not concern us. It is not our border,” he noted. Vladimir Putin stressed that the migration crisis had emerged at the Belarusian border with other sovereign countries, this is why these countries should find solutions to problems on their own. “If they want to truly resolve the problem, they should contact Belarusian authorities at any level and resolve the problem together with the neighboring country,” the Russian leader stressed.
At the same time Russia will continue helping evacuate third-country residents and even citizens of Afghanistan from Afghanistan's territory. “We are doing it. Not clandestinely. We come to terms with Taliban leaders on certain categories of people and do it,” Vladimir Putin noted. “Some Afghans come to the Belarusian-Lithuanian border or the Belarusian-Polish border. There may be not only Afghans. But everyone gets expelled from European countries, including Afghans. I don't understand the logic,” Vladimir Putin noted.
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked his Russian counterpart for his stance on the migration crisis. "The European Union and other parties are trying to resolve this problem, including by filing some complaints with Russia's leadership, including my colleague. They say Russia should put pressure on Lukashenko and so on… I am grateful to him for his stance that he expresses everywhere: Belarus has a government, they should contact the government and resolve this problem. You see they don't want to talk us because either the president is ‘illegitimate' or the government is a wrong kind. But things are different with Talibs. They can talk to Talibs and have a dialogue with them,“ Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out.
