MOSCOW, 10 November (BelTA) - The situation with migrants on the EU eastern border is just a part of the big picture, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram in response to comments by Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina on 9 November, BelTA has learned.
“The Polish MFA spokesman said that we are allegedly taking advantage of the crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border and that we are lying and twisting the facts, which heightens tensions in Europe. Dear Lukasz Jasina, tensions in Europe had been rising for many years, "first of all, because of the loss of independence by some of its countries in order to curry favor with non-European countries in implementing their political agenda, and also because of the irresponsible interference in the affairs of sovereign states and double standards in approaches to the most important democratic principles,” Maria Zakharova said.
There are many examples, the spokeswoman said. "The destruction of the Iraqi statehood through the actions of the U.S. administration and allied states caused tectonic shifts in the region,” Maria Zakharova said. “The West-sponsored ‘Arab spring', the NATO campaign against Libya, the interference of the collective West in the affairs of Syria and the support of international terrorism there and, most importantly, the emergence of IS on the ruins of the Iraqi state - all that has led to a mass exodus of refugees and migrants from that part of the world to Europe. And of course, the information campaigns that humiliate the traditions and values of some peoples and cultures in favor of others," Zakharova said.
"I will repeat what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has just said. The responsibility for the resolution of the migration crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border lies with the West. It caused it by its actions in the Middle East. And it must be fully resolved in compliance with international humanitarian law,'' the diplomat said.
"Let's not pretend it started yesterday. The situation at the EU eastern border is just a part of the big picture. A failure to see it, to understand it and admit it - that's what constitutes the twisting of facts and lying. Lying of the worst kind that can ever exist - lying to yourself,'' she said.
"And one more thing. Unfortunately, I did not see your indignation at the false publications in the Western press, including Polish press, which accuse the Kremlin of masterminding the global European migration crisis,” the diplomat noted.
The spokeswoman also called on her Polish colleague, instead of lecturing about tensions on the European continent, to deal with “protecting the rights of journalists who are pushed out of border outposts by Polish forces who use aggressive physical censorship including the blocking of mobile and internet connection and sound and flash effects.” "All this is a flagrant violation of democratic standards of freedom of speech and media, which goes against the fundamental obligations of states undertaken within the framework of the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe regarding the humanitarian dimension and rights of journalists," Maria Zakharova emphasized.
"By the way. In my response to your ramblings about ‘tensions in Europe' I have not mentioned the deployment of missile defense and other U.S. weapons in Europe, the genesis of the Ukrainian crisis, the anti-Russian energy hysteria and Dzhokhar Dudayev Square in Warsaw. I have not mentioned those facts not because I have forgotten about them. It is just I'd better not even start," Maria Zakharova added.
