Ukraine Joined EU Statement on Migrants on Border with Belarus

The use of migration by the Belarusian authorities for political purposes is tantamount to human trafficking or human trade. This is said in a statement by the European Union and EU member states, which was published at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Ukraine also joined the statement.

“Belarus is currently making extensive use of migration for political purposes. This practice is tantamount to human trafficking or human trade. It testifies to the cynicism of the Belarusian regime, which endangers the lives and health of people in order to divert attention from human rights violations and brutal repression in the country,” the authors of the document note.

The European Union strongly condemns “this inhuman and inadmissible behaviour” and rejects “any attempt by third countries to use human trade, migration or human trafficking.”

The signatories of the statement called on the Belarusian regime to immediately stop this practice and other hybrid threats to human life and health, including the permanent blocking of access to humanitarian aid.

The North Atlantic Alliance also condemned the hybrid attack by Belarus against Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and the actions of the Belarusian regime, which uses migrants as a tool to achieve political goals.

According to the statement, these atrocities put the lives of already vulnerable people at risk. NATO has expressed solidarity with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, as well as with other countries affected by the situation.

The day before, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said that the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland was artificially created by the joint efforts of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, and as of today there are about 15,000 illegal migrants in Belarus. The official also stressed that “now such a company is being deployed so that there are as many of them as possible to put pressure on the European Union.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities are strengthening their border with Belarus and preparing for possible scenarios of illegal border crossing by migrants.

Bohdan Marusyak