Berlin, Minsk Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) called the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko again because of the crisis surrounding migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border. This was announced by the Presidential Office of Belarus on Wednesday evening in the capital Minsk.
Merkel and Lukashenko agreed that there should be talks between representatives of the EU and Belarus to solve the problem. There was initially no confirmation from the German side. It was only on Monday that they both had a phone call that, according to Belarus, had lasted about 50 minutes. Further contacts have been agreed.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has asked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to allow aid from the United Nations and the EU for migrants stranded on the border with Poland. In addition, she called Lukashenko again on Wednesday, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert.
Merkel emphasized the need to provide humanitarian care and return opportunities for the people affected with the support of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and in cooperation with the EU Commission. Thousands of migrants have been stranded on the Belarusian-Polish border for days.
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Solutions to the current situation of migrants should come out of talks between representatives of the EU and Belarus.
(Photo: dpa)
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert informed about the phone call. Again he did not use the title Lukashenko, but referred to him as “Lord”. The background to this is that the EU states see election rigging and do not see Lukashenko as the rightful president of his country. The background to this is massive allegations of fraud in elections and the actions of the security forces against peaceful demonstrators and civil society.
Seibert had also rejected criticism of the first phone call from, for example, Green politicians. The conversation was closely coordinated with the EU Commission. The EU accuses Lukashenko of organizing migrants from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in order to put pressure on them.
More: Refugee suffering in the forests between Poland and Belarus: on the way to Europe’s coldest border