Lukashenko: some come to the border to show off next to refugees
Aleksandr Lukashenko has been reported today by the Chairman of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee, Vladimir Karanik, and the President's Aide – Inspector for the Grodno Region, Yuri Karayev. Commenting on the situation with refugees, the Head of State mentioned those who come to the Belarusian-Polish border.
“More World Health Organisation representatives will come; tomorrow these smart ones will come again to show off. This is very important. Europeans insisted and Ms. Merkel asked me during our conversation to let the International Organisation for Migration, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner in… I said: no problem. But I see some people have come here for the umpteenth time. Why are they coming here? To show off against the background of these refugees,” the Head of State said.
The President instructed Mr. Karayev to immediately take this under control, “Don't let their feet be there! Why are they seeking publicity against the background of refugees? If you come for some reason – well, help them. If you cannot organise a humanitarian corridor – well, tell me why you can't. You are welcome to help people in their daily routine. There is experience and there are huge finances concentrated in international organisations. Except for the Belarusian Red Cross Society (I see Mr. Shevtsov there, our deputies, and representatives of our government), no one is actually involved into it. They are rather coming to scratch a baby's nose. Why are you scratching his nose in front of a camera with dirty hands?”
The President added that international officials fail to answer certain questions of refugees. “Why have you come then? Therefore, do not worry about this: if they come and render no concrete help – then they should go away. They should rather go to Poles and deal with these problems from the side of Poland. We’ll in turn deal with these people ourselves. I want everyone to understand: we will do everything. We will try to do whatever refugees wish. Their desire is a must for us. They have expressed their wish to return to Iraq, Syria and we, as you see, have organised a flight. We are preparing another flight at the end of the month if there are enough people ready to go home. Therefore, we will support this. If they want to go to Germany, to Poland – we will do our best to help them. We will talk, we will demand together with them that they be allowed into Germany,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
According to Belarus’ Head of State, even those contact persons who were discussed in the conversation with Angela Merkel do not get in touch, “Belarus’ Foreign Minister calls them and says: let's work in this vein. He is replied ‘we are on a business trip’ or somewhere else. In this regard, there is no need to wait for anyone! If they refused, it means that their entry here will be closed. They have nothing to do here, because it will be the same as with these international visitors: they will come to show off. We will deal with these people ourselves if Germany fails to accept them. We have nowhere to go, but we must demand that the Germans take them as they have relatives, family members living in Germany. Some are going there to continue their treatment.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned that when people showed WHO representatives X-rays indicating the need for treatment, they were sent to Iraq for treatment. The President instructed Mr. Karanik to warn the Foreign Ministry that he would no longer allow such ‘visitors’ to the border, “Here is their face, here is their responsibility. Therefore, these visitors have nothing to do here. If they want to help, let them do it. What are you telling us here about medicines? We have enough medicines. You have billions of Dollars. Give money to these migrants so that they can get medical care, some minimum support…”
Mr. Karayev clarified: yesterday, for example, the guests calculated by the formula that the Belarusian side installed not enough toilets. Several hours later, the required number of toilets was added. The President commented, “If they come and help, we will arrange a separate toilet for them – for the political figures who are flashing around there.”
