EU must increase pressure on Lukashenko regime and impose even tougher sanctions - Murniece

RIGA - The European Union (EU) must increase pressure on the regime of Belarus' dictator Alexander Lukashenko and impose even tougher sanctions, Saeima Speaker Inara Murniece (National Alliance) said at a meeting of the speakers of the Nordic and Baltic (NB8) parliaments in Copenhagen on Monday. 

As LETA was told at the Saeima press office, Murniece said in her speech at the meeting that  the ongoing events at Belarus' border is not a migration crisis but a hybrid operations planned and organized by an authoritarian regime. Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are like gate guards, holding off an attack to the entire EU, the Saeima speaker said. 

She indicated that Western countries need a common perspective on the events at Belarus' border. "These people are not refugees, they are migrants whose destination is particular welfare states in Western Europe," Murniece said, adding that the EU must increase pressure on the Lukashenko regime and invest in building and equipping the bloc's eastern border. 

At the same time, the international community must closely watch Russia's military activities at Ukraine's border, considering the current concentration of military personnel and equipment there, Murniece said. 

The speakers of the Nordic and Baltic parliament also discussed supervisory practices in the region's parliaments, as well as public involvement in parliamentary work.

The NB8 format joins five Nordic countries - Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden, as well as three Baltic states - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - in regular meetings of prime ministers, parliament, ministers and other state officials.