The EU is ready to introduce new restrictive measures against Minsk if the situation on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border does not improve.
The correspondent of PolitNavigator reports that the European Commission told Izvestia, commenting on the influx of refugees into Lithuania through the territory of the republic (since the beginning of the year, a record number of illegal migrants has been recorded - almost 4 thousand).
“The EU regularly reviews its sanctions regime. The Union is ready to add new restrictive measures against the “Lukashenko regime” and those who support or benefit from it if the situation in the country does not improve. At the same time, restrictive measures are discussed and agreed upon by all member states of the association. As a rule, we do not comment on what new restrictive measures may be aimed at,” the press service of the EC department said.
However, Belarus rejects Brussels’ accusations.
“All the accusations of the European Union are senile. The migration wave began in the EU a long time ago, and there are international obligations that Lithuania must fulfill in relation to migrants. But today it has shown its complete failure: there is virtually no border service there, for 300 years they have not been able to ensure the protection of their own borders and all this has been transferred to Belarus, says Oleg Gaidukevich, the House of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus and the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party.
He also recalled the refugee killed on August 4 on the border with Lithuania, calling it a manifestation of the inhumanity of local border guards. The politician also added that Belarus does not violate its obligations, although it should not solve the problem for the Europeans.
“Naturally, we are not going to fully, as before, bear the burden of protecting the EU border unilaterally, while Lithuania imposes illegal sanctions against Minsk and wages a hybrid war. Lithuania should, on the contrary, change its policy towards good neighborliness: sit down at the negotiating table with Belarus, lift sanctions, because this is beneficial to the Lithuanian people,” Gaidukevich concluded.
Read on: Lukashenko accepted Lithuania's challenge.