Poland: Over 10,000 migrants still staying in Belarus

Shafaq News/ Migrants begin to return to their countries from Belarus but more than 10,000 people are still staying in that country, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday after talks with his Latvian counterpart, Krisjanis Karnis, in Riga.

"Several thousand people, more than 10,000 in all, are still staying in Belarus," he said, adding that several hundred migrants have opted to leave for their home countries. In his words, these people see the hopelessness of the situation.

According to the Polish prime minister, the very fact that the Belarusian authorities have accommodated the migrants at nearby logistics centers proves that these people are used by the Belarusian leaders in political purposes. "It means that these people are an instrument in the hands of the Minsk authorities," Morawiecki said.

He said that some 400 organizers of the contraband of people had been detained. "They are people od various nationalities, including Western European and Middle East," he said, adding that he is convinced that international mafia is behind the migration crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border.

The migration crisis at Belarus’ border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia deteriorated dramatically on November 8, when several thousand migrants approached the Polish border and set up camp there. From time to time they try to break through the fences and cross into Poland, but are stopped by Polish law enforcers.

EU countries accuse Minsk of the deliberate escalation of the crisis and call for more sanctions against Belarus. Meanwhile, Lukashenko said that the blame for this situation rests on Western countries because people are fleeing their countries gripped by hostilities provoked by their actions.