Lukashenko says troops have helped refugees reach the EU European Union News

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said it was “absolutely possible” for his forces to help people move to the European Union, but declined to invite them to the country.

European governments have accused Belarus of artificially creating a crisis by bringing people from abroad and taking them to the border with promises to easily cross the bloc. Belarus has denied the claim, instead criticizing the EU for closing its borders.

Asked if Belarus is trying to allow refugees and migrants to enter Poland, Lukashenko said: “I think this is entirely possible.

“We are Slavs. We have hearts. Our troops know that the migrants are going to Germany … Maybe someone helped them, “he told the BBC.” But I have not invited them here, “he said.

Polish border guards said on Friday that two groups of migrants and refugees had attempted to cross the eastern border of the European Union and NATO: 500 people took part in one, some of whom threw stones and tear gas, accompanied by Belarusians. authorities. Guards said 45 people had been arrested.

Al Jazeera, like all other media outlets, cannot independently verify claims about border activities, as Poland has banned journalists from entering a 3-kilometer (2-mile) wide area.

Poland’s accusation suggests that the crisis has not been resolved by an apparent change of attitude in Minsk, which cleared the main border camps on Thursday and made its first flight home to Iraq in months.

Support groups say at least 11 asylum seekers and refugees have died on both sides of the border since the crisis began earlier this year – although the actual number is believed to be higher – as concerns over people’s well-being are growing amid freezing winter conditions.

Human rights groups say Poland has exacerbated suffering by sending back those trying to cross it. Poland says this is necessary to prevent more people from coming.

Poland and its allies accuse Belarus of deliberately attracting thousands of migrants and refugees, many of them from the Middle East, and directing the country to its border with Poland in response to Western sanctions against Lukashenko’s government after a re-election last year.

Minsk, backed by Russia, has denied this and accused Polish security forces of committing crimes against humanity while scaring away people trying to enter the EU.

Lukashenko and his main ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, spoke on the phone on Friday and stressed “the importance of establishing cooperation between Minsk and the EU to solve the problem.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine, which borders Belarus and Poland, has said it is “systematically and deeply preparing” to bring the crisis to its homeland.

“We do not rule out the possibility that Russia will decide to send a large number of illegal migrants to our territory through Belarus,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky told parliament.

He said the situation on the Ukrainian border is under control, but warned that migrants who decide to cross will be repulsed with the necessary means, including firearms.

On Friday, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszcza tweeted that Warsaw was “happy” with Estonia’s proposal to send 100 troops to the border.

Migrants from camps on the Belarusian side were taken away on Thursday in large and crowded warehouses, and journalists were allowed to shoot. On Friday morning the children were running, and the men were playing cards, while one of them hung a baby on his lap.

“This is not a life, but this is not permanent, this should be temporary until we decide our fate: to take it to Europe or return to our countries,” Mohammed Noor, a 23-year-old electrician, told Reuters.

“What I want for myself, I wish for others too: to go to Europe and have a stable life.”

Meanwhile, two migrants who were caught crossing into a hospital in Bielsk Podlaskie, Poland, were treated before being taken away by Polish border guards.

Prior to the move, Mansour Nassar, 42, the father of six Syrian children in Aleppo, who traveled from Lebanon to Belarus, described the suffering he had been in the forest for five days.

“The Belarusian army told us,‘ If you come back, we will kill you, ’” he said, in tears, on the hospital bed. “We drank from the ponds … Our people are always oppressed.”

Kassam Shahadah, a Syrian refugee doctor living in Poland who helps at another hospital, said patients are afraid of forcibly returning to Belarus.

“What they’ve seen, what they’ve experienced in that regard is a nightmare for them,” he said.

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic described the border humanitarian situation as “worrying” and called on Poland to end the controversial return of Belarusian migrants.

“I have personally heard horrific accounts of the extreme suffering of desperate people … who even spent weeks or months in cold and humid forests in poor and extreme conditions as a result of these delays,” he said in a note.

“All completion must be completed immediately.”

He also called on Poland to allow rights activists and the media to “immediately and unhindered access to all areas around the border.”

Belarus said there were about 7,000 migrants in the former Soviet country on Thursday.

Political scientist Vladimir Sotnikov of the Russian Academy of Sciences told Al Jazeera that the potential solution to this situation is a commitment by the EU.

“Probably [a] can be the solution .. [for the] NI [to] accept President Lukashenko as the legitimate president, and then Lukashenko can start negotiations with the EU to calm the crisis and reach a compromise, ”he said.