(AP) Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned that his country will not try to stem a flow of illegal migrants to the European Union, a move that comes after the EU tightened its sanctions on the country.
The EU and the United States have slapped Belarus with tough sanctions after it diverted a passenger jet last month to arrest a dissident journalist.
Lukashenko on Tuesday night denounced the sanctions as what he called a “hybrid war” waged by the West against Belarus and warned the country’s EU neighbors — Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — that they shouldn’t expect Belarusian authorities to stop illegal migrants from crossing the border.
