Belarus floods the European Union with migrants, taking a page out of Putin’s playbook

It’s a surreal sight — and one that has been repeated over many recent nights. Having survived persecution by ISIS at home in Iraq, here on the Belarus-Lithuania border the Yazidis find themselves caught up in a breathtakingly cynical plot. A Western intelligence official told CNN the scheme could not function without the permission of the Belarusian state, and that Lukashenko was likely using the migrants as a way to pressurize the EU into negotiations on lifting the sanctions against him. Belarus’ key ally, Russia, plays a role in this dark trade, the Western intelligence official said, adding that the Russian government used a similar migrant scheme in Norway and Finland in 2015. The official said it was highly likely that Belarus benefited from Russian advice, information and assistance to establish this latest transit route. In June, as the number of migrants arriving in the country escalated shortly after the Another camp at Druskininkai brims with Africans and Iraqis, furious at being crammed into military tents and locked into the center during the pandemic. Many here insist they did not pay traffickers to get this far. But Ali, from Baghdad, said some pay 5,000 to 6,000 euros ($5,900-7,000), even as much as 15,000 euros to a facilitator or trafficker for a VIP service to the most prized destination in Europe: Germany. Ali said the Belarusians “push us, they use us like guns, because Belarus has trouble with Lithuania. Like weapons. They use us, but we need this.” Another camp resident — also from Baghdad — added: “We need this as our life is in danger. We do not have a life in Iraq.”