So that there can be no doubt about how some in Russia feel about the refugees from Syria and Iraq surging into Western Europe, Komsomolskaya Pravda's Daria Aslamova published an op-ed laying the responsibility squarely on the United States.
KP is a frequent platform for anti-Western and anti-American sentiment and often gives voice to Russian officials' thoughts on their nation's foreign and defense policies.
"Let's just answer the question", begins the op-ed, "of why migrants from the Middle East are not interested in staying in Hungary, Greece or Serbia. Because these countries are considered quite poor! The migrants are amazed. They did not expect to see people in Europe living so poorly. In Syria and Iraq before the war, people lived much better than they do now in Serbia or Macedonia. Even more than in Greece, which is now trying to save on everything. Migrants are wondering what to do in Southeast Europe. Serbia, for example, was ready to give refugees a residence permit and the right to asylum, but have given them only to 14 people, because no one asked. They want to go right to Germany, where they get good unemployment benefits.
"Today's refugees are rich people," continues the paper. "Because not everyone can afford such an expensive relocation. Where do they get the money? As it turns out, they get help from many American charities. Interestingly, we note that every morning near the banks there are huge queues of migrants, they receive money in every city where they arrive -- in Belgrade, Budapest, and Athens. Therefore someone forwards them money throughout their journey. Question -- who does that? Partially, as it turns out, it's the Americans."
The columnist goes on to explain her view that America wants the refugees to go Europe, further speculating on how "strange" it is that so many people have tried to access the Continent at the same time, and adding that "someone" promised them mountains of gold.
"You have a huge mass of people," continues KP. "The first are the Iraqi masses, fleeing from ISIS atrocities. The second mass fled Syria -- also from ISIS. Just in Lebanon, with a total population of 4 million, there are an additional 2 million Syrian refugees living in appalling conditions. This whole multitude of refugees began to put pressure on Turkey, and Turkey started to push them out. Where to? Only toward Greece, since getting into a boat gets you to Greek islands in couple of hours.
"A larger picture emerges out of this puzzle," concludes Aslamova. "It becomes clear that the USA is planning the occupation of Europe via Turkey and its charities."
KP also recently interviewed Middle East expert Elena Suponina, the advisor to the director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, on the question of whether Russia should share Europe's concern over the refugees.
"Firstly, some migrants from the Middle East are already using Russia as a transit territory to get to Europe, " Suponina said. "Secondly, some groups of refugees from Syria -- for example, of Circassian origin -- are settling in the North Caucasus among fellow Circassians, so we already have Syrian refugees, although not in such great numbers as in Europe and some Middle Eastern countries.
"This is not the most urgent problem for us right now. This threat is more indirect -- refugees settling in Europe, causing numerous social problems, as well as terrorism and radicalism. So the Russians may be faced with migrants while traveling abroad, but not at home."
Suponina then explained her view of why Russia is not a chosen destination for refugees:
"In general, Russia is not very attractive for people from Middle Eastern countries. We do not want them to linger, because here they are not promised fat social benefits as in Europe. In Russia, immigrants have to work to survive. In addition, these migrants have great difficulty with the language barrier -- in Europe, they can communicate in English. Additionally, our immigration and visa laws are stricter than Europe's, and Russia is far away geographically. Finally, our climate is more harsh for the southern people."
