Belarus border crisis: France, UK & US blame Lukashenko govt for escalating situation

Western members of the United Nations Security Council have criticised Belarus for escalating the migrant crisis at the border with Poland. As per a BBC report, in a strong-worded statement, the western nations accused Belarus of using the migrants to destabilise the European Union’s eastern border. Belarus’ main ally, Russia, however, refuted the accusations. The latest allegations by western countries at UNSC came after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to cut off gas supplies to Europe if new sanctions were imposed.

While thousands of migrants remain stranded at the Belarus-Poland border seeking refuge in Western Europe, at Thursday’s emergency UNSC meeting, the Western member states reportedly issued a joint statement accusing Belarus of putting the lives of the people in danger “for political purposes.” As per the UK media outlet, they also said that Belarus was attempting to divert “attention away from its own increasing human rights violations.”

The statement against Belarus was issued by France, the UK and the US who are all permanent members of the council. However, Russia refuted the accusations and instead blamed Poland as well as Lithuania for the mistreatment of migrants. All five permanent members of the UNSC have the right to veto resolutions. BBC quoted Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy as saying, “There are a lot of cases when Polish and Lithuanian border guards beat migrants and pushed them back to Belarusian territory” and added, “I would say that this is total shame and a total violation of any possible international conventions and rules.”

Poland, Lithuania using border crisis to gain EU’s funds: Belarus

Poland and Lithuania are using the crisis at the Belarus-Poland border to gain additional funds from the European Union (EU), Valentin Rybakov Belarusian Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) told Sputnik. While the US, EU and NATO have accused the Belarusian government of manufacturing a migrant crisis on the EU’s eastern border, Rybakov told the Russian news agency that both European nations are using the ground situation at the border “in their interests” and for “justifying their anti-migration policy.”

"From our point of view, Poland and Lithuania are using the situation around migrants in their interests as a pretext for gaining additional funds from the European Union as well as for justifying their anti-migration policy and multiple violations of their international commitments", Rybakov reportedly said.

(IMAGE: AP)