Minsk Excoriates EU Border Guards For Abandoning Refugees In Danger

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2021) Belarusian State Border Committee (GPK) has denounced on Wednesday the practice by representatives of border agencies of EU member states to abandon refugees in apparent danger, saying the practice has become a norm despite putting migrants, including women and children at risk.

"Leaving a person in danger, including vulnerable groups, women and children, has become the norm for European representatives of border agencies," GPK stated in the official Telegram channel.

According to the committee, the Lithuanian security forces dumped a refugee with a leg injury on the Lithuanian-Belarusian borderline the other day. On September 27, the man calling for help was found by the Belarusian patrol on the site of Likhachi border post. As reported by the GPK, he could not move on his own, and Lithuanian security officials standing on the neighboring side were watching the suffering of the refugee with shocking indifference.

"As it turned out, the man broke his leg while present in Lithuania. It was there that he was taken to a medical facility and examined. He requested refugee status, but instead of considering the application, the Lithuanian security forces brought the immobilized man to the borderline," the statement said.

According to the GPK, the Belarusian border guards immediately called medical assistance to the scene. At the same time, when the Lithuanian servicemen saw an oncoming Belarusian ambulance, they decided to pick up the man and dragged him from the borderline into a vehicle.

"The main reason for the leniency of the Lithuanian side was possible public exposure of the cruelty committed by the Lithuanian border guards in the Belarusian media," the press service added.

Recently, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have reported a growing number of refugees arriving from Belarus. Vilnius blames Minsk for the current migration crisis, claiming that it uses migrants as a "hybrid weapon" against the European Union.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk could no longer restrain the flow of illegal migrants to the European Union due to Western sanctions. Belarusian border guards have repeatedly reported the forcible expulsion of migrants by Lithuania, Poland and Latvia to the Belarusian territory. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said that the West faked a conflict situation with refugees on the border, forgetting about its international obligations.