Russia confronted Western members of the UN Security Council on Thursday (November 11) over the border crisis between Belarus and Poland. The Russian Deputy UN Special Envoy hinted that his European colleagues have a tendency to abuse.
Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway, the United States and the United Kingdom raised the immigration crisis in a closed-door meeting of 15 members.
“We condemn the instrumentalization of Belarus, which puts life and well-being at risk for political purposes. Attention,” they said in a statement.
The statement did not mention Belarus’ ally Russia, which before the meeting refuted Western accusations that it was cooperating with Minsk to send migrants to Poland through the EU’s eastern border.
They described Belarusian practices as “unacceptable” and accused President Alexander Lukashenko of posing a threat to regional stability, and called on “a strong response from the international community” to hold Belarus accountable, and promised to “discuss what we can do Further measures”.
The EU stated that Belarus encourages thousands of people to flee the war-torn regions of the world and try to enter Poland and other neighboring countries in retaliation for EU sanctions.
Belarus warned that the crisis could escalate into a military confrontation, while Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia stated that Belarus poses a serious threat to European security.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Poliansky told reporters before the council meeting that he thinks his Western council colleagues “have a certain tendency to abuse, because it is a shame for the EU to raise this topic. , Will be very brave in front of us.”
When asked whether Russia or Belarus is helping to move migrants to the Polish border, Polianski said: “No, absolutely not.” He added that not all issues need to be resolved by the Security Council. Russia has the veto power of the Security Council, so it can protect Belarus from any attempt to impose UN sanctions.
When asked about Russian fighter jets flying over Belarus, he said it was a response to what he called a massive build-up of Polish troops on the border.
Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway, the United States and the United Kingdom stated: “We will remain united and determined to protect the European Union from these mixed actions by the Belarusian authorities.”
When asked whether the deployment of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border meant that Russia was planning to invade its neighbors, Poliansky said: “It was never planned, never done, and never done, of course, unless we are affected by Ukraine. Or the provocation of others.
(Editing by Georgi Getoff)
