The European Union should not yield to the "blackmail" of the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and should jointly address the hybrid attack on the EU at the Belarus-Poland border, Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Monday
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2021) The European Union should not yield to the "blackmail" of the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and should jointly address the hybrid attack on the EU at the Belarus-Poland border, Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Monday.
The international conference on Belarus initiated by Vienna is being held virtually on Monday.
"The extremely tense atmosphere that we observe on the Belarus-Poland border, and the continued cynical use of migrants as a weapon against the EU, shows that the situation is deteriorating. From my point of view, one thing is clear: the EU should not succumb to Lukashenko`s blackmail, we must respond clearly and from a common front to this state-sponsored hybrid attack on the EU," Schallenberg said at a press conference.
Over the past few weeks, thousands of migrants from the middle East have amassed at the border between Belarus and Poland in hope to enter the European Union. Poland strengthened their border guard and deployed the military to prevent illegal border crossings. Warsaw accuses Minsk of facilitating the migration crisis, but the Belarusian government denies the allegation.
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have been reporting an influx of migrants from Belarus since summer, claiming it was orchestrated by Minsk in retaliation for EU sanctions over alleged human rights violations in the country. The EU has in turn adopted a new package of sanctions on Belarus over the matter.
