The Belarusian governor responded forcefully on Thursday. We are heating Europe, but they still threaten us. “What if we cut off natural gas?” Lukashenko said during a cabinet meeting. The governor of Belarus noted that the gas from the Jamal-Europe pipeline, coming from the far north of Russia, does not pass through Ukraine or the Baltic states.

According to Belarus, Europe itself bears responsibility for the refugee crisis, due to the previously announced sanctions against Minsk. The Belarusian regime accuses Poland of violating human rights by not accepting asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, Russia openly sided with Lukashenko. On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him to call his Belarusian counterpart. But Putin replied to Merkel that he could not put pressure on Lukashenko, because Russia would not be a party to the crisis. He offered to mediate between Lukashenko and the European Union.

Minsk and Moscow said earlier that the West should find a solution to the migrant flows on its own, as this is the result of Western military interventions in the Middle East.