Lithuania has gone over the edge. The forcible deportation of refugees, the murder of an Iraqi citizen, beatings, torture, and use of lethal weapons against unarmed migrants. Today it has become clear - official Vilnius is planning to use the refugees as a human shield to storm the Belarusian border checkpoints. This is a "casus belli" in world practice, a pretext for starting a war, from the Russian diplomatic language. It would seem that the world community should be concerned and at least stand up for unarmed people, their rights and freedoms. But the situation in the region is only heating up.How should and will Minsk react? Will Belarusian law enforcers be able to close every meter of the state border from the west and south? Today the President of Belarus held a meeting with the leadership of the security forces and set priorities in the protection of national security and humanitarian rights of refugees.
Our colleagues in the European Union and global media hardly show the footage from the Belarusian-Lithuanian border. For them it would be an admission that in the 21st century, in the EU state, though not the most civilized one, the Lithuanian one, not just international law is violated, but crimes against humanity are committed. Without notorious double standards, the Lithuanian political regime would repeat the fate of the Yugoslavian leadership, and the UN would have already requested the deployment of "blue helmets" to prevent torture and forced deportation. This is Lithuania. The member of NATO, which by its participation in the war crimes of the Alliance in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya bought itself an indulgence for such crimes. And after all, Vilnius officially participated in 11 military campaigns of NATO. And therefore it bears all the responsibility for the natives of the ravaged lands.
Today, the President gathered law enforcement officers at the Palace of Independence. The main issue is the border as a frontier with the hostile countries of NATO and Ukraine. Here, the people are brotherly, and the political regime is speculating on confrontation. But, Lithuania and Poland are already going much further today. Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus: "I think if we compare all the factors and facts that we have been observing lately, having passed through seven or eight stages of the so-called color revolution, they have nothing left in their plan. So they've gone back to the tactics they've been using for a long time - blackmail, pressure. And they have already reached the point of threatening them with force. One of the threats is that allegedly, illegal migrants will be concentrated at the official checkpoints: between, let us say, Lithuania and Belarus. It is already a few hundred and maybe a thousand people each. And at the threat of weapons, they will be squeezed out on the territory of Belarus. Such actions by the neighboring side, if it happens, will threaten a conflict, because border guards are bound by law to protect the border and prevent its violation. Therefore, a very dangerous, to say the truth, situation is developing. But to say that we did not foresee it and did not anticipate it would be wrong."
Crimes against humanity In international criminal law, the actions of the Lithuanian regime are described by Article 7 of the Rome Statute, "Crimes against Humanity." The UN Charter and decisions do not simply give the right, but oblige civilized states to stop crimes against humanity by all means, up to and including military. This is insurance against another holocaust, genocides and ethnic cleansing. Therefore, when the President speaks of the threat of conflict, he appeals not only to national law, but also to international law.
Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus:
"From now on, not a single foot shall set foot on the territory of Belarus from the neighboring side, be it from the south or from the west. Close every meter of the border. It is not for nothing that we have invested colossal resources in the border troops, in our law enforcement agencies in general. Our people must feel calm, they must know that there are men ready to protect them. This is what we must do. It's elementary. God forbid, they should start using the tactic of expelling the people they have summoned there through official checkpoints. So let them think. We've warned them, let them think. They went so far as to kill people and throw the half-dead on our territory. The fact is that they have passed a law to shoot migrants, beat them, crush them, haunt them. But it's their right, they showed their face. We should be primarily concerned about the last meters of our border."
