Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday accused European Union authorities of refusing any discussion with Minsk over the fate of two thousand migrants stranded near the EU's eastern border. The West accuses Belarus of artificially creating the crisis by bringing in potential immigrants - mainly from the Middle East - and bringing them to the border from where they promise easy passage into the EU, in revenge Western sanctions targeting the regime. Belarus denied the accusation, blaming the EU instead for not welcoming migrants. "
I am waiting for the EU to answer the question concerning the 2,000 migrants,
" Lukashenko said, quoted by the state-owned Belta news agency, duringa government meeting.
Read also Migrant crisis: Poland says Belarus has changed tactics
Thousands of migrants, mostly Iraqi Kurds, have been stranded for days in a cold and humid forest on the Belarus-Poland border, hoping to reach Western Europe. Around 400 of them were repatriated by plane to Iraq on Thursday and around 2,000 were sheltered by Belarusian authorities in the hangar of a logistics center near the border. Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that he had asked the EU to welcome these migrants. German Chancellor Angela "
Merkel promised me that they would examine this problem at EU level,
" assured the Belarusian president, who spoke on the phone twice last week with the German leader. "
But they don't do it
",he asserted.
Read alsoMigrants: Europe challenged by Belarus
According to the Belarusian President, European officials are refusing any contact on this subject despite appeals from the Belarusian Foreign Minister.
"
We must demand from the Germans that they welcome them,
" Lukashenko said, referring to the migrants.
Belarus assured last week that the German Chancellor would negotiate a "
humanitarian corridor
" with the EU
to evacuate the remaining 2,000 migrants to Germany.
This announcement was, however, firmly denied by the German government.
