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Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday he wanted to avoid confrontation over migrants at the Polish border in a crisis that the EU has accused him of orchestrating.
His comments came after the EU and the US vowed to expand sanctions on Belarus this week, with thousands of migrants—mostly from the Middle East—camped at the Polish border in freezing temperatures.
Brussels says Belarus’s authoritarian leader has lured the migrants to the EU’s doorstep, charges that Minsk has denied.
“We cannot let this so-called problem lead to heated confrontation,” Lukashenko told a government meeting, according to state news agency Belta.
“The main thing now is to protect our country and our people, and not to allow clashes.”
Lukashenko discussed the crisis with Germany’s Angela Merkel on Monday, his first phone call with a Western leader since he suppressed mass protests against his rule last year.
EU to widen sanctions on Belarus over migrant row as border standoff continues
The Belarus strongman—in power since 1994 and accused by the West of rigging an election last year—said the pair agreed the stand-off should be de-escalated.
“We were of the united opinion that nobody needs escalation—not the EU, or Belarus,” he said.
But he said they had “differing” views with Merkel on how the migrants got to Belarus, with the West saying Minsk had brought them there as revenge for sanctions.
EU foreign ministers have agreed that existing sanctions targeting Lukashenko’s regime will be…
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Source : france24
