“Lukashenko was certainly opening champagne yesterday,” commented the President of the Belarusian House Foundation, Ales Zarembiuk, on the EU’s decision to support migrants in Belarus. As he added, Belarusians don’t believe in the dictator’s propaganda, but they make money on foreigners.
Asked by RMF FM about his perception of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s talks with Alexander Lukashenko, Zarembiuk replied: “Even we, here in Warsaw, in a free country, perceive it very badly”.
As he stressed, it is sad that the European Union fell for it by Lukashenko.
“He was certainly opening the champagne yesterday because he got another 700,000 euros,” Zarembiuk said.
The European Commission informed on Wednesday (17 Nov) that it has allocated €200,000 for humanitarian aid for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). These funds will go to migrants in Belarus. The EU has also secured an additional EUR 500,000 for this purpose.
According to the head of the Belarusian House Foundation, political prisoners and their families need humanitarian aid. “We hope that after 15 months, they will finally receive this aid from the European Union,” Zarembiuk stressed.
Zarembiuk also replied to the comment that maybe we should talk to Lukashenko because, after all, he is in power in Belarus and we need to talk to someone:
“I know you even talk to terrorists, but this situation is different. This is perceived as a weakness of the European Union, which will lead to other conflicts”.
Asked what normal Belarusians think about this crisis, Zarembiuk said that “Belarusians are laughing and making money from it”.
“They are laughing because they don’t believe Lukashenko. They know why he set it up, what he wants. But they simply make money on these migrants,” said the head of the foundation “Belarusian House”.