German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a protective mask during a news conference on the current developments in Afghanistan, at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany August 16, 2021 Odd Andersen/REUTERS
BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday condemned the way Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko treats refugees, adding that Germany would consult closely with its European partners on a coordinated response.
"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 terms," Merkel said at a news conference with the Estonian prime minister.
"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," she said. (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle and Madeline Chambers)
