Belarusian leader Lukashenko accuses Latvia of staging border incident to get EU money
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko (photo: Getty Images)
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has accused Latvia of fabricating a border breach from Belarusian territory, allegedly to secure funding from the European Union, according to Zerkalo.
Lukashenko lashes out at Latvia
Lukashenko accused Latvia of staging a border incident that occurred in early October. At the time, a group of 20 people attempted to cross from Belarus into Latvia. They were accompanied by unidentified armed individuals wearing masks.
The Belarusian leader claimed that the Latvians had fabricated the entire incident for financial gain.
"We know perfectly well that the Latvians themselves did this to create a pretext for obtaining money from the EU. We have absolutely nothing to do with allegedly entering their territory... You couldn't make up anything more ridiculous," he falsely claimed.
Lukashenko added that such operations are not carried out without the approval of the country's leader.
"Nothing of the sort was coordinated with me. Therefore, nothing of the sort took place. I know that for certain," he clarified.
Lukashenko cynically described the incident as a "lie" fabricated by Latvia.
"They need money. Neither the three Baltic states, former Soviet republics, nor Poland have sufficient resources to satisfy their 'wish lists.' Especially in the military sphere," the Belarusian leader said.
Border fences
He also "thanked" Latvia for building a new fence along its border with Belarus and accused the country of planning aggression against Belarus.
"In the event of aggression on their part (and if aggression does occur, it can only come from their side, not ours), they will have to overcome the fence. That works to our advantage... It's utter stupidity..." he stated.
At the same time, he noted that these fences are largely ineffective: "As I have said before, according to information I received earlier, migrants need four to six minutes to get over this fence."
Masked men at the border
On October 6, Latvia's National Armed Forces reported that a group of at least 20 irregular migrants, accompanied by masked individuals, had attempted to illegally cross Latvia's state border earlier that week.
Latvian troops stopped the attempt. However, the masked individuals were armed, threatened military personnel, and actively pushed and directed the group of migrants toward Latvia.
Later, masked individuals entered Latvia, damaged an electrical distribution cabinet and stole cameras, before returning to Belarusian territory.
In addition, Lukashenko stated that Belarus has no remaining supplies of potash fertilizers available for Western countries. He claimed that all production had already been allocated under existing contracts.
