{"id":161894,"date":"2025-10-28T13:45:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/161894\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"lukasenka-says-he-wont-protect-eu-from-migrants-with-sanctions-noose-on-belarusians-neck","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/161894\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka says he won\u2019t protect EU from migrants with sanctions \u201cnoose\u201d on Belarusians\u2019 neck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Lithuanian Border Guard Service)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 28, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka has reiterated his refusal to cooperate with the European Union on tackling irregular migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirstly, enduring comprehensive sanctions pressure, we don\u2019t have spare resources or moral obligations to solve the problems of those who have imposed these sanctions. They are stifling us by sanctions while asking us to protect them\u2026 As soon as they imposed sanctions and severed cooperation on migration issues, I told them honestly and frankly that we will not be catching anyone and will not be protecting them,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka said, speaking at the III Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security on October 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Poland, Lithuania and Latvia unilaterally curtailed all infrastructure and all cross-border cooperation projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also repeated his claim that the West had “invited” migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe logic is simple,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka explained. \u201cIf you have destroyed the bridges, do not ask us to build a crossing. We will not protect you with a noose around our neck. Sanctions are a noose around the neck of the Belarusian people. And you expect us to protect you? This will not happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a small part of the international sanctions imposed on Minsk after 2020 are related to the migration crisis. The West introduced the toughest sanctions for the regime\u2019s complicity in the Russian war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flow of people desperate to cross into the EU surged in spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2021, the Belarusian government suspended a readmission agreement with the EU in response to sanctions that followed the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia, Lithuania and Poland call the migration crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2025, the EU has thwarted at least 40,549 irregular crossings via Belarus, 20.5 percent more year on year and 11.7 percent more than the total for all of 2024. Most of the attempts \u2013 28,164 \u2013 targeted Poland. Latvia reported 10.970 attempts and Lithuania, 1,415.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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