"EU leadership and member states are convinced that a long-term settlement of the migration problem is impossible without removing prerequisites — solving the Syrian crisis and other international crises, as well as strengthening political stability," Usackas said at a press conference in Moscow.
Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.83 million illegal border crossings into the bloc in 2015, in contrast to some 283,000 in 2014.
Syrians are the largest group of international refugees, as the war in Syria has left millions without a home. According to UN estimates, approximately 11 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the conflict in the Arab country in 2011.
