According to the Iraqi consul in Belarus, Majid Al-Khani, two flights left today, and two more are scheduled for tomorrow. During the manufactured crisis, Belarus has detained more than 11,500 illegal migrants with around 5,000 already deported from the country.
Many of the people staying at the Bruzgi warehouse were previously living in camps near the border, waiting for an opportunity to cross into the EU, before Belarusian authorities cleared them. Lukashenko, who denies the allegation that he fomented the crisis, agreed last week to the first repatriation flights in months.
Alexander Lukashenko – Belarus: “She (German Chancellor Angela Merkel) wanted me to send those who are here back to their home countries. I said we will work on that and repeated twice: we will try to solve this issue by New Year’s Eve. We won’t repatriate them, we will ask them, those who can, to leave. As you can see, I am fulfilling my duty.”
Lukashenko said it was the EU that deliberately provoked a humanitarian crisis that needed to be resolved and he said he would work on solving the issue by New Year’s Eve.
