Fake Lukashenko: The EU himself broke the agreement with Belarus on the reactsia and refused to build camps for migrants

Alexander Lukashenko gave Dmitry Kiselev an interview in which he tried to shift the responsibility for the European Union for the crisis situation on the Polish-Belarusian border. RIA Novosti reported this in the material under the heading “Lukashenko called the reason for the migration crisis on the border with Poland”:

“The reasons for the crisis with migrants on the border were the EU’s refusal to build refugees and sanctions, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

He recalled that Belarus and the EU had an agreement on the reactmission, according to which if migrants got into the EU through Belarusian territory, Minsk took them back and placed them in Belarus in refugee camps.

“The camps were to be built (EU - Ed.), And they began to build, and then stopped. And I stopped picking them up,” said Lukashenko.

The Belarusian leader noted that the European Union was the first to break the reactication agreement and now does not want to discuss this topic. Then, according to Lukashenko, sanctions against Belarus began. ”

In fact, in 2017, the European Union allocated Belarus € 7 million for the construction of the temporary placement centers of illegal migrants. As Deutsche Welle explained then the head of the Minsk Center for European Integration Andrei Egorov, this was necessary for Belarus to simplify the visa regime with the EU, since the renewal agreement together with the agreement on the simplification of the visa regime made a single package. In addition, in the framework of the EU cross -border cooperation programs, in 2014–2020, it received about € 38.5 million to modernize the border infrastructure. The construction of camps for illegal migrants was not mentioned by the EU forces, he only financed these works.

But after the EU imposed sanctions against Belarus in connection with the forced landing of the Ryanair aircraft in Minsk and the abduction of his two passengers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Makei made this statement:

“We will have to send the money that was planned to arrange a border infrastructure, the implementation of some other projects related to mobility will have to be directed to the elimination of the consequences that may take place in Belarus in connection with the sanctions imposed. That is, this money will go to specific people, to the people. Why should we restrain some runaway migrants who want to get to the same West in search of a better life only because once famous countries decided to make color revolutions there.

We are not going to take money from the people and throw it into unnecessary projects, trying to protect the West, while appropriate sanctions actions are being taken against us. ”

As for the parties that initiated the gap of the reactmission, here is the message of the Belarusian State Information of BelTA dated June 28, 2021, under the heading of Belarus, begins the procedure for suspension of the agreement on the rejection with the EU ":

“Belarus begins the implementation of the procedure for suspension of the agreement on the renewal of the EU. This is stated in the statement of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BelTA reports.

“We cannot fulfill our obligations within the framework of this Agreement in the context of sanctions and restrictions introduced by the European Union. We state with deep regret that the forced suspension of the agreement will negatively affect the interaction with the European Union in the fight against illegal migration and organized crime,” the Foreign Ministry said. ”

In September, Lukashenko introduced the bill “On the suspension of the agreement between the Republic of Belarus and the European Union on the Readmissions of Persons without permission”. His press service noted that the document was “prepared by the government in the framework of the response measures for unfriendly actions taken by the EU and its Member States in relation to Belarus”. The law was adopted, and on October 14, Lukashenko signed it. No European initiatives were reported to the exploration of the agreement.