Russia and Belarus are not helping migrants flock to the border between that country and Poland, said the deputy Russian ambassador to the UN on Thursday, while assuring that his country had no plan for invade Ukraine.
Read alsoMigrants in Belarus: Poland, lonely guardian of its eastern border
"
No, absolutely not,
" diplomat Dmitry Polyanskiy said of possible aid to migrants before an emergency closed-door Security Council meeting called at the request of Estonia, France and of Ireland on the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland. Asked about the movements of fighter planes observed in the skies of Belarus, Dmitry Polyanskiy explained that it was a “
response to the massive deployment
” of armed Polish guards on the Polish-Belarusian border.
"
We have obligations within the framework of the unity between Russia and Belarus,
" he added. “
If there is a concentration of military resources on the border with Belarus, we must react. These are just reconnaissance flights, nothing more, it's a normal activity
, ”he insisted. Migrants “
are people who have come to Belarus legally and are seeking to enter European countries, especially Germany. They are not allowed to cross the border, are pursued, beaten. It is a total shame and a complete violation of international conventions
, ”said Dmitry Polyanskiy, judging that a way out of the crisis can only go through dialogue.
The Russian diplomat criticized the lack of transparency on the Polish side on the crisis, where, at the border, he said, journalists and NGOs do not have access unlike, according to him, to the side of the border of Belarus. Referring to a “
masochistic inclination
”, the deputy Russian ambassador also considered that the Europeans' request for a seizure of the Security Council was “
shameful
”. Estonia, France and Ireland were to, after the emergency meeting, issue a joint statement with the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom on the migration crisis between Belarus and Poland.
Asked whether the deployment of Russian military forces on Russia's border with Ukraine meant that Moscow intended to invade Ukraine, Dmitry Polyanskiy assured that "
it had never been planned
".
“
Remember that the American warships in the Black Sea are acting in a very provocative way
,” he said.
"
It is more and more difficult every day to avoid a direct clash in the Black Sea
", added the diplomat.
"
We have the right to concentrate troops where we want, it is not Ukrainian territory, it is Russian territory
," he insisted.