China News Agency, Moscow, November 13 (Tian Bing and Zhang Meng) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the 13th that the refugee crisis at the border between Belarus and EU countries was caused by Western countries themselves, and Russia has nothing to do with it.

  According to a news published on the Russian President’s website on the 13th, Putin said in an interview with "Russia 1" that Russia has nothing to do with the refugee crisis at the Belarus-EU border. "There are always people who try to impose responsibility on us for no reason." He pointed out, People should not forget the root causes of the refugee crisis.

The refugee crisis is caused by Western countries and is the result of their political, military, and economic policies.

  Putin is deeply concerned about the current refugee situation.

He pointed out that there is a lack of dialogue between the leaders of the major EU countries and the leaders of Belarus. He hopes that they can alleviate the refugee situation through direct contact and find a solution that suits the interests of all relevant parties.

  Putin clarified that Belarusian President Lukashenko had not expressed his intention to cut off Russia's transit of natural gas to Europe in the last two calls with him.

He said that in theory, Lukashenko, as the president of a Russian gas transit country, could do so, but this would destroy the gas transmission agreement between Russia and Belarus. "I hope it will not happen."

Putin also said that Europe has been constantly threatening to continue to impose new sanctions on Belarus, which will cause huge damage to European energy and is not conducive to the development of relations between Russia and Belarus, which is a natural gas transit country.

  Since August this year, in order to enter Western European countries such as Germany, more and more refugees from the Middle East have used Belarus to enter the EU member states Poland and Lithuania, and the pressure on border control between the two countries has increased accordingly.

According to reports, due to insufficient food, water and medical security in the border area, coupled with the need to avoid arrests by Poland and Lithuania, refugees are in a difficult situation and many people have died.

  In addition, when talking about the military exercises held by the United States and NATO countries in the Black Sea, Putin pointed out that the "unplanned" exercises conducted by the United States and its allies in the Black Sea region and the use of navy and strategic air forces and carrying strategic weapons are against Russia. Serious provocation.

  Putin said that the Russian Ministry of Defense had also proposed to hold "unplanned" exercises in the waters, but he did not think it was "appropriate" and there was no need to further escalate the situation.

Therefore, the Russian Ministry of Defense "is limited to escorting aircraft and ships."

(over)