Putin Says Europe Is Facing a Migration Crisis

Moscow (ANTARA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Europe is currently facing a migration crisis.

In an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin, Putin said that children of people who had moved to European countries from the Middle East witness and feel the injustice directed at people of their own nationality and religion.

“A migration crisis. Yes, it is indeed a crisis,” Putin said.

Putin added that, to address migration, European countries should focus on educating newcomers and integrating European customs and traditions into their communities. However, he said, European societies could not implement such a policy because they were instead “destroying their own customs and traditions”.

“These groups of migrants and their children have, of course, not been reached. Many people have come and lived there for decades without being able to speak the language of the country where they live,” Putin said.

Putin added that Europe did not have enough resources to assimilate all migrants, which had contributed to the crisis.

“We have representatives of different cultures and religions – Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists – and they have no other homeland. Russia has historically developed as a multi-ethnic and multi-faith country, whereas that is not the case there [in Europe],” he said.

“They have another homeland. This is a very significant difference. Therefore, they certainly need to pay greater attention to this issue,” Putin added.

Putin said Russian authorities, too, needed to pay greater attention to inter-ethnic relations policy.