Belarus accuses Ukraine of exaggerating migrant crisis to get money from West

top Belarusian official said Ukraine is fabricating issue of migration in order to get money from "western curators", ANI reported citing news ncy Sputnik on Monday. Quoting Belarusian Security Council Secretary Aleksandr Volfovich, news ncy said that issue could t be explained by common sense. According to him, Ukrainian leadership exaggerated issue in hope to snatch money from ir western curators, like Poles or Lithuanians. "If what is going on in Poland and Lithuania can be somehow justified, se are NATO countries, n what is going on in our sourn neighbour [Ukraine]... cant be explained by common sense. It is already hysteria," Volfov ich told Belarusian broadcaster STV.

"Maybe, hysteria of Kyiv leadership in hopes to get some money from ir western curators, like Poles or Lithuanians, to snatch something", added Volfovich.

West attack Belarus for enticing thousands of migrants

However, in response, West has attacked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for enticing thousands of migrants to Belarus by air transport with promise of help to get to Western Europe. West alleged Belarus want to use migrants as tools to destabilize European Union in retaliation for its sanctions on his authoritarian government. According to European Union’s border and coast guard, number of people trying to enter Europe without permission has risen significantly since beginning of this year. It said that rise in migration increased came after country imposed travel restrictions to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

Minsk claims of providing citizenship to 192 Ukrainians

"Nearly 160,000 illegal border crossings were recorded in first 10 months of this year, up 70% compared to same period in 2020 and 45% more than in 2019," news ncy AP quoted data of Frontex released early in vember. Meanwhile, Volfovich ted that Ukraine had trained its defence forces to stop illegal migration during military drills, despite this, y were t countering migrants while crossing illegally to or nations. "Well, who will go to Ukraine? or way around, only from Ukraine: 192 Ukrainians, if I am t mistaken, have applied for Belarusian citizenship this year and stayed in our country", Sputnik quoted Volfovich as saying.

(With inputs from ANI)

Im: AP