Foreign minister-designate Annalena Baerbock is taking the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko to court and is nevertheless pleading for a dialogue with the regime.
The head of the Greens and foreign minister-designate Annalena Baerbock has accused the authoritarian Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of double blackmail.
Refugees are being «abused to divide Europe», Baerbock told the news magazine «Spiegel». On the other hand, the government would want to be recognized by the Europeans as an interlocutor, even though it is “suppressing the opposition”. You shouldn’t “allow yourself to be blackmailed by dictators,” said Baerbock. Nevertheless, she pleaded for a dialogue with the regime. “You cannot pursue foreign policy without dialogue,” she said.
At the same time, Baerbock criticized the call from the executive Chancellor Angela Merkel to Lukashenko. “It shouldn’t have been the Chancellor who called Lukashenko.” There is no simple solution to the crisis, but it is important that Poland and Germany act together.
The top priority, however, is the care of the refugees – also on Polish, i.e. EU, territory. For weeks, thousands of migrants have been trying to get from Belarus across the EU’s external borders to Poland or the Baltic states. The EU accuses Lukashenko of specifically having people flown into Minsk from crisis regions in order to then smuggle them into the EU.
“2000 people – not a big problem for Germany”
During a visit to the emergency shelter, Lukashenko asked Germany to take the people in again. “2000 people – that’s not a big problem for Germany,” he said in Brusgi on the border with Poland. “Chancellor Merkel agrees,” he asserted again. Lukashenko had made a similar statement a few days ago after two phone calls with the executive head of government Angela Merkel (CDU) – afterwards there was a clear denial from Berlin.
The people in the emergency accommodation in a logistics hall wanted to go to Germany to see their families and loved ones. «Please take these people in with you. That’s not a big burden, ”said Lukashenko.
For weeks, thousands of migrants have been trying to get from Belarus across the EU’s external borders to Poland or Lithuania. The EU accuses the authoritarian Lukashenko of specifically having people flown into Minsk from crisis regions in order to then smuggle them into the EU and destabilize the situation there.
Hundreds of people again decided to return to their home countries, including Iraq and Syria, on Thursday and Friday. As the airport in Minsk announced, another plane to Erbil in Iraq took off on Friday night at 2.45 a.m. (local time).
Meanwhile, according to the Polish border guards, a group of around 200 migrants tried in vain to break through the border barriers from Belarus and get into the EU. The incident occurred on Thursday near the town of Czeremsza, the authority announced on Friday.
Source From: Stern

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