Growing Migrant Crisis Direct Result of EU, NATO Policies – Latvian Party

The problem of the growing number of asylum seekers that Europe, and Latvia in particular, is now facing was triggered by EU and NATO policies in the migrants' countries of origin, Katrina Iļjinska from the Latvian Social Democratic Party Concord (Saskana) told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko – Latvia is currently experiencing an increasing inflow of asylum seekers. According to the country’s border service, of the migrants who entered Latvia since the beginning of the year most came from Vietnam, Afghanistan, Russia and Iraq.

"We should bear responsibility for those decisions that our states make, even if people are against them. Latvia is a member of NATO and the European Union — groups that took part in bombings of those countries [Afghanistan, Iraq] that migrants now flee. It means that NATO and the European Union created the problem of asylum seekers themselves," Iļjinska told Sputnik.

She said the issue of migrants was a big problem for Latvia, and it was becoming more and more acute for the country.

Europe is trying to get to grips with a major migrant crisis as thousands of people flee conflict-torn countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia. According to UN data, 137,000 refugees crossed the Mediterranean Sea for Europe in the first six months of 2015, with thousands dying at sea.