Putin says Russia “has nothing to do” with the crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, denied on Saturday that Moscow is helping orchestrate a crisis that has left hundreds of Middle Eastern migrants blocked at the Belarusian-Polish border.

“I want the whole world to know. We have nothing to do with it ”, declared the president to the Vesti channel, after Poland and other Western countries accused this week Moscow having orchestrated with Minsk sending migrants to the border.

The Russian president held Western countries responsible for the crisis, saying that his policies in the Middle East encouraged immigrants to want to go to Europe.

To solve the crisis, Putin urged European leaders to speak to the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, as, according to him, the German Chancellor was willing to do Angela Merkel.

“We must not forget where these crises associated with immigrants come from (…) they were created by Western countries themselves, including European ones”, Putin said.

For her part, Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tijanóvskaya, who fled the country after a disputed presidential election last year, said on Twitter, referring to Lukashenko: “There can be no dialogue with the dictator trying to blackmail democratic countries.”

According to Belarus, about 2,000 people – including women and children – remain in the border area. However, Poland indicates that there are between 3,000 and 4,000 and that more are arriving every day.

Camping tents and heaters

The mostly Kurdish migrants are trapped on the Polish-Belarusian border in freezing temperatures. To warm themselves, they wait in tents and burn firewood.

While their situation is increasingly worrying, Poland does not allow them to cross and accuses Belarus of preventing them from leaving the area.

On Saturday, Belarusian authorities said they were handing out tents and heaters to blocked people, a move that could make the presence of migrants at this European Union (EU) border semi-permanent.

Migrants have been trying to cross the border for months, but the crisis took a new turn on Monday when hundreds of people tried to pass together and were turned away by Polish border guards.

On Saturday, Polish police reported that the lifeless body of a young Syrian had been found in the forest near the border. “The causes of death could not be determined on the spot.“Said the security body in a statement.

This death would bring to 11 the number of mortal victims of the current migratory crisis, according to Oenegés estimates.

A soldier, a member of the contingent deployed by Poland on the border with Belarus, died after a “Unfortunate accident”Announced the Polish army on Saturday.

According to the first elements communicated by the army, “His service weapon was fired (…) without the participation of third parties.”

The EU accuses Belarus of organizing these migrant movements, handing out visas and even chartering flights, in order to try to create a migration crisis in Europe, in response to international sanctions against the Lukashenko government.

New sanctions

In fact, next week, the European bloc plans to extend the sanctions for “Human trafficking”.

The vice president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, assured in an interview this Saturday with the French newspaper Le Figaro that the sanctions would be “Approved and applied”.

As he explained, they would apply among others to the state airline Belavia, accused of chartering groups of migrants from Turkey to Minsk.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top foreign policy adviser told AFP on Saturday that blaming Turkey was “out of place”.

Syrian private airline Cham Wings Airlines announced on Saturday that it was interrupting its flights to Minsk.

“Due to the difficult situation on the border between Belarus and Poland, and because most of the passengers on our flights to Minsk are Syrian citizens, we have decided to suspend our flights” to this city starting Saturday.

The company said it made this decision because of “not being able to differentiate “ between migrants and others, according to a statement.

Tension continues to grow at the border and both countries have deployed their troops. On Friday, Belarus warned that “I would respond severely” to any attack directed against its territory.

Despite pressure from the West, Lukashenko can count on the support of his main ally, Russia. Air troops from both countries carried out on Friday “Combat exercises” near the sector.

However, Moscow’s support for Minsk is often cautious. In an interview, Putin said he knew nothing about Lukashenko’s threats this week about cutting off the transit of Russian gas through Belarus to Europe.

“Honestly, it’s the first time I’ve heard this.”said the Russian president. “He has never told me about it (…) He could probably do it, but it wouldn’t be right.” “Of course, I will talk to you about this, if you do not say it simply in a twist of humor”He added.