In 2015, Kremlin diverted int’l attention from Donbas by manufacturing migration crisis - expert
One of the main goals the Kremlin pursues in fueling the migration crisis in Belarus is to divert the attention of the international community from the topic of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
In fact, Moscow successfully implemented the same scenario almost six years ago, Ukraine’s former Ambassador to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2010-2017) Oleksandr Levchenko, told Dom TV, Ukrinform reports.
"Migration crisis is actually a game. It's all been orchestrated in the Kremlin. See, five years ago (in 2015-2016 - ed.), there was a very similar scenario when Syrian refugees were moving from Turkey [to the European Union] through an ‘Orthodox’ corridor through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, and Hungary. That is, through countries controlled by the Kremlin, where Moscow enjoys great influence, a flow of refugees has been set up," the diplomat recalled.
As a result of the "Syria" migration crisis, the Kremlin has in fact achieved one of its goals - the topic of Donbas was taken off international headlines.
"While in the period before August 2015, the topic of Donbas had been a priority for the European media, after a month-long migration wave, the media downgraded the issue of Donbas was downgraded to the third or even fourth position," Levchenko said.
Today, Moscow pursues a similar goal, while this time working the scenario out on the borders of Belarus.
"This is Moscow's attempt to divert attention from what is happening on Ukraine's borders. Moscow has every opportunity to set up such a flow of refugees from the Arab world. More precisely, in this case, we are talking more about Iraq. Bringing in these refugees is not a decision that was taken in Minsk as Belarus has no clue how to arrange this. But the Russians have. Why? That’s because Russia is not the main exporter of oil and gas. Russia is the main exporter of instability, war, and conflict," he said.
As reported, a state of emergency may be declared in Ukraine’s border regions in the event of a threat arising of a mass influx of migrants from the territory of Belarus.
In Brussels, EU foreign ministers agreed on a new package of sanctions against the Belarusian regime. In particular, airlines bringing potential migrants from the Middle East to Minsk will face restrictions and be considered accomplices in human trafficking.
As reported earlier, following EU sanctions, the Lukashenko regime, led by the Kremlin, as experts believe, has created a migration crisis on the borders with Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. Migrants from Iraq, Syria, and a number of African countries have been arriving in Belarus en masse, while the country's border service forces have been helping them get to the EU borders.
So far, thousands of people remain practically blocked in the border zone. As winter approaches, the situation threatens to escalate into a full-scale humanitarian crisis.
Photo: belta.by
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