Belarusian National Front demands that Minsk stop accepting Syrian refugees
The Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) issued a statement at the Party Congress on Sunday demanding that the authorities stop accepting Syrian refugees, Interfax reported.
The party noted that throughout the course of the war in Syria, more than 300 Syrian refugees have arrived in Belarus. The authorities in Minsk have taken measures to facilitate the process of receiving refugee status and asylum in Belarus.
"The demographic crisis in Belarus, where a large number of our fellow citizens travel abroad to work, as well as the not fully formed national consciousness of our population, are factors which make us consider the acceptance of migrants from other civilizational circles as unacceptable," the party’s statement read.
The party's goals are democracy and independence through national rebirth and rebuilding. Following its establishment in 1988, the BPF was pro-Western and anti-Russian, though its stances on certain issues are not always congruent with the values of the European Union, as Sunday's announcement demonstrated.