What the international community needs to do is toughen sanctions against Minsk, rather than talking with the regime, according to Nauseda.

"I wonder how the European Union could negotiate with Alexander Lukashenko after [...] the whole EU, not individual countries, declared that the [Belarusian presidential] elections were illegal and not transparent, and we do not recognize the result," he told the 15min online news site on Wednesday.

"This means that Alexander Lukashenko is the illegitimate leader of Belarus. The European Union does not talk with illegitimate leaders," the president said.

"I think we need to respond with even more targeted sanctions that would hit at the very heart of the regime and specifically at human trafficking or smuggling," he added. "So, [sanctions] should be targeted at airports, at airlines that are involved in this illegal activity."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his influence on the Minsk regime to stop the "inhumane" instrumentalization of migrants against the EU, her spokesperson has said.

Putin suggested that the problems arising from the situation on Belarus' borders with Poland and Lithuania should be discussed directly between the EU member countries and Minsk.

The EU is currently considering new sanctions against Belarus to put pressure on the Lukashenko regime which the bloc is accusing of orchestrating illegal migration.

The crisis on the bloc's eastern frontier escalated on Monday as several thousand migrants converged near the Polish border and attempted to force their way into Poland.

Lithuania on Wednesday declared a state of emergency along its border with Belarus to prepare for a possible scenario.

Source
It is prohibited to copy and republish the text of this publication without a written permission from UAB „BNS“.
BNS
Comment Show discussion