No Evidence Russia Responsible for EU Refugee Crisis - Former US Strategist

There is no evidence that Russia is "weaponizing" the migrant crisis in Europe for its own strategic ends, David Kilcullen, former Chief Strategist and special adviser to the US State Department told Sputnik Wednesday.

EDINBURGH (Sputnik), Mark Hirst — On Tuesday, NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Philip Breedlove accused Moscow of "weaponizing" refugee migration to Europe to destabilize the European Union.

"I don’t know what evidence General Breedlove is referring to. I haven’t seen anything to suggest it [the refugee crisis] was deliberately provoked by Russia. What I see is something different," Kilcullen said.

According to the former US State Department adviser, the ongoing migrant crisis has been caused by the failure of the international community to deal with the massive displacement of migrants and refugees since 2011, pointing out that many of those seeking refuge in Europe came from North Africa and refugee camps in Turkey.

The other factor was the response to the crisis by European countries, such as Macedonia tightening its transit rules in June 2015, which could result in serious unrests across Europe, Kilcullen added.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex recorded more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings in the bloc in 2015.