MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) – A mafia-like structure operates in the European Union and facilitates the transit of migrants. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the relevant statement in an interview with Igor Korotchenko, a military expert and Editor-in-Chief of the Russian magazine Natsionalnaya Oborona [national defense], BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “People travel, go to the border. About 2,000 of them or maybe slightly more than that concentrated in various places – in Minsk, in forests yesterday. It was the first time like that. They were transported there. Certain people take care of their transit: they help migrants board aircraft, welcome them in Belarus, take them to the border, help them cross the border, and then Poles, Germans, Ukrainians welcome them over there. Everything in exchange for money.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that migrants pay for the transit services. “Poor people don't come. And if they are poor, they raise money for the travels. And we track this entire chain. People in Poland have already been caught and they even had to declare who they are. No Belarusians and only two Russians among them. And dozens of the transit facilitators that help migrants travel are Germans and primarily Poles, there are also Ukrainians and Lithuanians. In other words, a certain mafia-like structure enables transit,” the president said. “They have their own cells in Germany, France, and other countries. They call each other, tell migrants to come and promise they will be welcomed. And they look forward to the migrants' arrival.”
“The migrants do not travel to an empty space. They travel specifically to the people waiting for them in Germany. Some have relatives, friends, and someone else. It would be stupid to think that people are just crazy enough to travel for thousands of kilometers. Everything is smoothly organized. And Belarus is just another stage of the journey. Absolutely not the key stage,” the Belarusian leader pointed out.
While talking to the president, Igor Korotchenko mentioned statements by Press Secretary of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova. In particular, the press secretary reminded about Poland's role in attacks against Iraq and encouraged Poland to welcome 2,000 refugees from Iraq.
Aleksandr Lukashenko agreed with the point of view and drew attention to the role Western countries had played in destroying a number of Near East and Middle East countries. “All of it happened in front of my eyes after all,” he said. The president reminded he had known many leaders well, including Hafez Assad, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, and Fidel Castro. “We had very close and friendly relations with them. We met with them. I can tell you they were great thinkers,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “Due to their standing these people understood very well what was going on. They were leaders of their countries. And these scumbags simply murdered them. They murdered them.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko added: “They also want to destroy [Syria President] Bashar Assad. Yes, he is not Hafez Assad [Bashar Assad's father, who was the leader of Syria for a long time]. Bashar is calmer, he is a doctor, a very kind and decent person. But he is not acceptable for them.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that the murders of the leaders had been followed by the destruction of the countries: “Do you remember Bush Jr? [George W. Bush was the USA president in 2001-2009] They wanted to remodel the Near East and the Middle East. They invaded. They started with Tunisia (it is not talked about today) and proceeded with Operation Desert Storm in Iraq and so on. The country was virtually destroyed. Did things get better? No. Then they invaded once again. Tunisia, Libya, Syria. Then they reached Iran, saw they couldn't take it on. Twenty years in Afghanistan. And what are the results?”
“They didn't just simply stir up trouble in the Near East and the Middle East. They destroyed the statehood that existed there. Yes, a peculiar kind of statehood. Not the kind Belarus and Russia have, totally not the Anglo-Saxon kind. There were peculiarities,” the Belarusian leader stated.
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that actions of the collective West had not improved life in the countries that had been invaded. “Did things become better? They did it ostentatiously. They ostentatiously hanged Saddam Hussein. They impaled Muammar Gaddafi. A Muslim in a Muslim country! It was total savagery. They destroyed everything that was there, the way of life,” he stated.
It is obvious that living standards for many people in the destroyed countries became unbearable and they went to the West. “The lack of any prospects is the most dreadful thing over there. Can you imagine what future children may have? What education? They cannot get education. There is no healthcare. Say nothing about culture and sport. People are doomed not to survival, but to savage and terrible existence with absolutely no prospects. What are they to do? They have to seek a better life. A living person always acts like that,” Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced.
Moreover, the president remarked that high-ranking government officials of a number of European countries, including Germany, had invited migrants to come into their countries. “They called to them. And transit began,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out. “People are coming from Afghanistan now. It is just the beginning.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko expects even more migrants will come from Afghanistan soon, in particular, those who used to work for Americans. The USA refuses to welcome them now. “Americans also called to them but they ordered Europe and Central Asia [to accommodate the refugees]. Truth be told, Central Asia countries excused themselves. What are people to do? They will go to Europe. Americans may say they will stay there temporarily. Just like they say it to Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and so on. We know the American definition of temporary,” he noted.
The Belarusian leader continued: “So, these Afghans went via Central Asia countries, via Russia, via Belarus and over there. And it is not the only route. They travel via Ukraine, too, but Ukraine is a friendly country [for the collective West], so they keep quiet for now. Belarus is not friendly, so it has to be slammed. Moreover, Putin stands behind Lukashenko's back and pushes him to the West all the time. This is how they describe it. This migration wave is Lukashenko's hybrid war that Putin supports [according to the collective West].”
“What does Putin have to do with it? What does Lukashenko have to do with it?” the head of state responded to false accusations. “You've bombed Afghanistan and beyond. All the way to China. Now you've stumbled on China.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed once again that migrants are travelling to the Western countries. Migrants were invited to go there by those, who are guilty of destroying their homes. “Yes, they've found a hole in Belarus. They want to reach the European Union via Belarus. They come to Belarus, fly here in an absolutely legal manner. They come to the airport that the collective West keeps closed for its air carriers. But nature abhors vacuum. Dozens of aircraft from the Near East and the Far East, from the countries that have been bombed have rushed here,” the Belarusian leader said. “Russians, Chinese, and other ones keep flying here just the way they did in the past.”
Thus, Belarus provides work for its airports, work for thousands of people involved in runway maintenance, maintenance of parking aprons and passenger terminals, fuel provision. “You wanted to choke us,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Okay, we now fly to Russia, China, to the East. Not a single aircraft of [the Belarusian flag carrier] Belavia has brought migrants here. They come in their own aircraft, in Boeing aircraft.”
