MOSCOW, 10 November (BelTA) – At today's media briefing Spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova described statements made by Poland, Lithuania, and other European Union countries about the migration crisis as monstrous, BelTA has learned.
The official said: “Everyone sees these horrifying images and hears monstrous statements by representatives of Warsaw, Lithuania, other countries and associations from the spacious European Union. Instead of channeling these efforts into resolving the crisis… And it is not simply a crisis, those are people, women, children, elderly, people who need practical concrete aid every minute, people who need medications, clothes, and food. But instead of these efforts being channeled into concrete deeds we see another circle of efforts to intensify emotions, manipulate facts, information, and counteract the work of mass media.”
Maria Zakharova also described actions of Polish authorities towards mass media that cover the situation at the border as monstrous and savage. “I expected many things but I didn't expect this, I was shocked by how the Polish side treats reporters,” she admitted. In her words, Polish authorities have staged a genuine special operation in order to prevent mass media on the Belarusian side of the border from covering the situation. They used sound effects, some technical solutions, signal jamming, Internet signal jamming, she said. They used searchlights for blinding purposes, she recounted. The treatment of Polish reporters was even stranger and wilder. When they approached Polish authorities for permission to cover the situation from the Polish side, they were invited to cross over to the Belarusian side and cover the situation over there.
Maria Zakharova said she was truly surprised by the move considering the number of bodies meant to defend the freedom of press and democracy.
Maria Zakharova once again reminded that since April 2021 Belarus has been seeking contacts with the European Union as a whole and with individual countries in order to discuss the problem of migrants. “I'd like to add that in our contacts with the European Union we've also attracted the attention of our European Union partners to Minsk's initiative and tried to convince European Union representatives to use the proposal in order to resolve emerging and upcoming problems that are evolving into a crisis,” the spokeswoman said.
