"If you want to go west, we will not catch you, go, go" - Lukashenko met with migrants
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President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has met with migrants camped near the Polish border.
According to Lukashenko, he will not prevent migrants from going west.
He said the EU had deliberately provoked a humanitarian crisis that needed to be resolved.
"If you want to go west, we will not catch you, we will not strangle you, we will let you go. We will not detain you, handcuff you, or put you on planes to send you home" Lukashenko said.
An Iraqi teenager told Lukashenko he could not return home and hoped to continue his journey to Europe, to which the Belarusian leader replied: "We will work together on your dream."
There are thousands of migrants on the Belarusian side near the Polish border trying to enter the EU. They set up a tent city near the border. Several migrants were able to penetrate Polish territory.
Poland and other EU nations say the crisis is part of a "hybrid war" Minsk is waging in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed in response to Lukashenko's crushing of protests against his disputed re-election last year and is designed to destabilise the bloc.
