MINSK. Oct 4 (Interfax) - The Belarusian House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament, has passed a bill suspending the readmission agreement between Belarus and the European Union.
"The deputies have adopted a bill of the Republic of Belarus on the suspension of the agreement between the Republic of Belarus and the European Union on the readmission of persons staying without permission," the House of Representatives said on Telegram on Monday.
The Belarusian Council of the Republic, the upper chamber of the Belarussian parliament, approved the bill suspending the readmission agreement between Belarus and the EU later on Monday.
"The Council of the Republic has approved the bill of the Republic of Belarus on the suspension of the agreement between the Republic of Belarus and the European Union on the readmission of persons staying without permission," the Council of the Republic said on Telegram on Monday.
"The suspension of the agreement was approved by the president as part of the retaliatory measures to the unfriendly actions of the European Union and its member states against the Republic of Belarus," the report said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko submitted the bill suspending the Belarussian-EU readmission agreement to the parliament in September. The government drafted the bill to retaliate unfriendly EU actions against Belarus, the Belarusian presidential press service said. The agreement outlines the mechanism for extradition, acceptance and repatriation of persons who have breached the conditions of entry, stay and residence.
Belarusian Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakov said in parliament on Monday that "the situation surrounding refugees in the country is under control." "There are no issues in the territory of the Republic of Belarus. Information has been published on various Telegram channels saying that groups of militants, so-called illegal immigrants, etc., are coming. I want to say as interior minister that law enforcement agencies are in full control of the situation," Kubrakov said.
A total 368 refugees have sought assistance from the Belarusian authorities, he said. "The state is providing assistance to absolutely all of them, 56 citizens who cannot be accommodated somewhere in hotels or cannot house themselves have turned to us. Special stations have now been created for assisting refugees in the Vitebsk and Gomel regions, where they are receiving all necessary assistance, both financial and psychological," Kubrakov said.
In early July, Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said that Minsk would shortly complete the procedure for suspending the readmission agreement with the EU.
At the same time, Makei answered a question whether Belarus leaves a kind of window for itself, speaking specifically about the suspension of the agreement, and not its full discontinuation, so that in case of an improvement in relations, it can rejoin it.
"We always leave a window, chiefly not for ourselves, but for our Western partners. We believe it's wrong to ruin everything and leave scorched earth behind, which our European partners are trying to do. We have always been and will be focused on acting in a calm and constructive manner. And we are interested in having all issues resolved in a calm and diplomatic way, rather than what our partners are seeking to do nowadays," he said.
Belarus will redirect some funding from measures to equip and maintain the border infrastructure to minimizing the possible effects of the West's sanctions, he said.
Belarus and the EU signed the readmission agreement in Brussels on January 8, 2020.
Several thousands of migrants, primarily from Iraq, have entered Lithuania, Latvia and Poland through the Belarusian border this year. A state of emergency was introduced in Lithuania and Poland due to the migrant crisis, fences made of barbed wire were put up, and the state border was reinforced to stop flows of illegals from the territory of Belarus.
According to the Polish authorities, more than 8,000 people tried to illegally enter Poland from Belarus since early 2021, and almost 4,000 of them tried to do that in September. A total of 1,200 migrants crossed the border, but were eventually detained in Poland.
Europe calls illegal migration from Belarus "hybrid aggression" by "the Belarusian regime."
Poland and some other European countries are accusing Belarus of creating chaos near EU borders, as it is not allowing back illegal migrants from the countries of the Middle East and Africa who are trying to enter the EU, but are denied entry. As a result, many illegals are stuck in the border area.