“Here we are talking about the exploitation of refugees and immigrants by Belarus, which is completely unacceptable,” said João Gomes Cravinho on the sidelines of the reception ceremony for the Portuguese naval forces returning from the NATO mission in Lithuania today.
Recalling that this issue was discussed by the ministers of internal administration, Gomes Kravinho recalled that on Friday he attended the meeting of the European Union defense ministers, at which “the Lithuanian colleague and several other people are also from Poland. , who is also under the same pressure, explained the situation. “
According to the Minister of Defense, what is happening on the Lithuanian border “is completely different from other realities.”
“We are talking about the exploitation by the Belarusian government of President Lukashenko, who, incidentally, remains in power despite his defeat in the elections a few months ago, who decided that this would be a way of putting pressure on Lithuania, which welcomed the winner of the elections,” the minister criticized.
“It is obvious that Lithuania is completely in solidarity, it is obvious that this is unacceptable, it is obvious that the border must be respected and supported, and therefore we are ready – we and all NATO allies and member states of the European Union – are ready to support Lithuania in these circumstances,” – he guaranteed.
In recent months, Lithuania, a member of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has witnessed an intense influx of migrants from Belarus, mainly from Iraq.
The Lithuanian government considers this migration flow near its border to be an act of retaliation by the contested President of Belarus against the sanctions imposed by the block of communities against the Minsk regime, namely due to the diversion of a civilian plane in May last year and the arrest of an opponent who was on board the apparatus.
In August, the Lithuanian government ordered the border guards to refuse and expel, using force, if necessary, all migrants from Belarus who tried to illegally enter the territory of Lithuania.
In response, Lukashenko ordered the Belarusian defense and security agencies to “close every meter of the border” in order to prevent migrants from re-entering Belarusian land.
This situation exacerbates the already tense relations between the two “neighboring” countries, which worsened after the August 9, 2020 elections in Belarus, which returned Lukashenko, who had been in power for almost three decades, to the sixth term, but also the situation between Minsk and West.
The Belarusian opposition and the West considered the ballot to be fake.
Lithuania, a country of just under three million people, borders Belarus with a length of almost 680 kilometers.
According to international agencies, about 4090 migrants crossed the border between Belarus and Lithuania this year.
The Lithuanian authorities predict that this year more than 10,000 migrants may try to enter the Baltic country.
The Minister of Defense was present today at the reception ceremony for the Portuguese Navy Marines, consisting of 145 troops who were on a mission in Lithuania in the context of NATO’s protection measures in this territory.
“It is always a pleasure to welcome our national forces, in this case the Marines, who have been on a NATO mission for several months now, a mission that is very important to our allies in the Baltic states and is always deeply grateful. from the authorities of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, as well as Poland, who feel our closeness and an expression of solidarity, ”he said in a statement after the official confessions.
“This is very important because NATO is a single whole, there are times when we also need the support of other NATO allies and we demonstrate our solidarity,” he said.
This is “the best way to guarantee our own security and our full commitment to the Atlantic Alliance in the long term,” added Gomes Cravinho.