Merkel asks Putin to help migrants on the Polish border

by time news

Berlin / Moscow – Chancellor Angela Merkel has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate. The Chancellor asked Putin in a phone call because of the tense refugee situation on the border between Belarus and Poland to “influence the regime in Minsk,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Wednesday. Merkel emphasized in the conversation that “the instrumentalization of migrants against the European Union by the Belarusian regime is inhuman and completely unacceptable”.

The Kremlin has not yet responded to the talks. According to the Russian state news agency Tass, the Kremlin had previously accused the EU of betraying its values ​​because it did not accept migrants wanting to enter Europe. It is immoral to leave Belarus alone with the problem and to seal off asylum seekers with a wall.

Germany and the EU state that Belarus, with the support of Russia, is targeting migrants to Europe in order to destabilize the EU. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also accused Russia on Tuesday of orchestrating the difficult migration situation together with Belarus in order to put pressure on the EU.

According to the German government, Vladimir Putin has “a not inconsiderable influence in Minsk,” said Seibert, condemning the Belarusian government’s actions, which allow migrants to enter and continue to the border with EU member Poland. “What is being organized by the regime in Minsk is state-organized smuggling and smuggling,” said Seibert. The whole thing is a “hybrid attack on the European Union”.

The actions of the government in Minsk “cannot be called inhuman enough,” said Seibert. “People are lured into the country with false promises.” They spend money on the trip to Belarus because they believe that this is “their way into the European Union”. Instead, the people ended up “in a desperate situation” on the Polish-Belarusian border. “People from Belarus were lured into a trap,” said Seibert. These people must now be given humanitarian aid. In 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the borders and, with reference to the humanitarian situation, ensured that people could be admitted to Germany without further action.

According to the Federal Police on Wednesday, 1246 “unauthorized entries with a connection to Belarus” were registered in Germany in the first nine days of November. From the beginning of the year to November 9th, the number of these entries adds up to 9087. The German-Polish border in particular continues to be exposed to “high migratory pressure”, explained the federal police. (with AFP and dpa)

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