Lukashenko offers migrants food, clothing
KYIV, Ukraine – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday promised food and warm clothing to migrants who opt to stay at the border between the ex-soviet nation and Poland and won’t return to their homeland.
Lukashenko made the pledge during a visit to a facility that accommodates migrants at the border.
“My task is to help you, people in trouble,” Lukashenko said, addressing thousands of migrants during a visit to a facility accommodating migrants at the Bruzgi warehouse. “We, Belarusians, including myself, will do everything as you wish, even if it is bad for Poles, Latvians and someone else . ... We will work together with you on your dream.”
Lukashenko’s visit came after weeks of tensions at the border, where hundreds of people remain stuck. Since Nov. 8, a large group of people, mostly from the Middle East, has been stranded in Belarus at a border crossing with Poland, trapped as forces from the two countries face off against each other. Most are fleeing conflict or a sense of hopelessness at home, and aim to reach Germany or other Western European countries.
Lukashenko again called on Germany to accept migrants.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Friday strongly denied claims by Lukashenko that Germany had agreed to take in 2,000 migrants currently in Belarus.
“It’s not true that Germany agrees to this,” he said in Berlin.
Images taken by local media outlets show the authoritarian leader of Belarus surveying conditions at the migrants’ crowded quarters.