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Updated November 13th, 2021 at 08:46 IST

France urges Russia to use ties with Minsk to resolve Belarus-Poland border crisis

France's Foreign and Defence Minister have urged their Russian counterparts to use their ties with Minsk to resolve the ongoing Belarus-Poland border crisis.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
France
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defense Minister Florence Parly urged their Russian counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Sergei Shoigu, to use their ties with Minsk to resolve the crisis on the Belarus-Poland border, the French Foreign Ministery said in a communique. In recent months, thousands of migrants and refugees have flocked to Belarus’ border with Poland hoping to get to Western Europe. The EU has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of aiding illegal border crossings to destabilise the European Union’s eastern border. Belarus’ main ally, Russia, however, refuted the accusations and challenged the EU to offer financial assistance to Belarus to deal with the influx. 

However, according to a communique, France said, “With regard to the situation in Belarus, the ministers condemned the irresponsible and unacceptable behaviour of the Belarusian authorities regarding the instrumentalization of migration flows directed against several countries of the European Union. They called on Russia to use its close ties with Belarus to put an end to this.”

Amid the ongoing crisis, Belarus has received strong support from Russia, which has helped Lukashenko’s regime with loans and political support. Previously, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had even stated that the migrants' flow resulted from the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Western-backed Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Moscow had even angrily rejected Poland’s claim that Russia bears the responsibility of the crisis. 

UNSC criticises Blearu over border crisis 

Meanwhile, while thousands of migrants remain stranded at the Belarus-Poland border seeking refuge in Western Europe, at an emergency UNSC meeting, the Western member states criticised Minsk for escalating the migrant crisis at the border. The member states issued a joint statement accusing Belarus of putting the lives of the people in danger “for political purposes”. According to BBC, they 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. It is to mention, all five permanent members of the UNSC have the right to veto resolutions.

(With inputs from ANI)

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Published November 13th, 2021 at 08:46 IST

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