EU leader 'deplores' Belarus behavior amid migrant standoff

A top European Union official has condemned Belarus and expressed support for Poland, Lithuania and Latvia

WARSAW, Poland -- A top European Union official condemned Belarus and expressed support for Poland, Lithuania and Latvia on Friday as a state of emergency took effect in areas of eastern Poland following a surge in illegal migration. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Slovenia, said that the EU’s foreign ministers “stand in solidarity with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland and we are ready to take all measures to support them if the situation continues deteriorating.” He also said that they deplored that Lukashenko’s regime has “cynically” used “migrants and refugees to artificially create pressure on our Eastern borders.” “We said that when we had some migrant pressure on the Spanish border, we said ‘the Spanish border with Morocco is a European border’. Now it is time to say that the borders of Lithuania and Poland, on the Eastern part of Europe, are also the borders of Europe,” Borrell said.