BERLIN, 18 August 2021, (TON): German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the way Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko treats refugees, adding that Germany would consult closely with its European partners on a coordinated response.

Merkel said at a news conference with the Estonian prime minister “President Lukashenko is using refugees, for example from Iraq, in a hybrid way to undermine security, and of course we condemn this in the strongest possible term.”

The European Union accuses Lukashenko of using the refugee crisis to pressure the bloc to reverse sanctions it imposed on Belarus over a disputed presidential election last August and its treatment of the political opposition.

She said “we are closely coordinating with European partners on everything. We will also try to take a common position because this hybrid kind of confrontation, as used by Belarus, is an attack on all of us in the European Union.”