Pregnant women and children at the border are the key issue, President asserts
During his meeting with the Council of Ministers heads, the President commented upon the situation on the country’s western borders
“It is necessary to pay attention to pregnant women and children. A true disaster is there! There are many 8-9 months pregnant women. There is no way around it; they will probably go into labour here. They do not want to leave this camp where these refugees stay – saying that they will stay here. Well, how is it here? We know what kind of cold weather is coming. These are Kurds, Syrians, Afghans and others. They have thirty degrees Celsius in their countries now, while we are having sub-zero temperatures here! They don't know how it is to spend winter in Belarusian forests. However, they don’t want to leave these places,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The Head of State proposed to accommodate refugee children and, in some cases, their mothers in sanatoriums, “Pregnant women and children are the key issue. So take a look and make a decision. We should not leave them – especially these children – to fend for themselves. We can at least wash and feed them there. When the time comes to labour, we’ll definitely take them to hospital and provide further services.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko also instructed the Deputy Prime Minister, Yuri Nazarov, to bring dry firewood to the refugee camps, “There are two reasons for this. Firstly, they need to get warm. Secondly, they have already collected all dry wood there and will start cutting down healthy trees. They won't be much use; you and I are foresters and we understand this. And they can also cause a lot of harm. We have enough dry wood. We need to bring it there – for people to use it for fire, and so on. Give them saws – so that they can saw. No need to take ready firewood there. Let them work and warm up. We have someone to give ready firewood. This might be even worse for them. At least they'll warm up there.”
The Head of State noted that 1,790 people currently stay in a camp near the Bruzgi border checkpoint. 322 people are in the neutral zone. The President also said that there have been attempts to force 1,020 refugees out of the Polish side to the Belarusian territory today.
