Belarus says it has helped more than 100 migrants leave

KYIV – Belarusian authorities accidental they person helped much than 100 migrants permission the state connected Monday and much are prepared to permission Tuesday, a connection that comes aft astir 2 weeks of tensions astatine Belarus' borderline with Poland, wherever hundreds of migrants stay stuck.

Belarus' Interior Ministry officials said Tuesday that 118 migrants flew retired of the capital, Minsk, connected Monday to their location countries aft the ex-Soviet country's authorities “assisted them with paperwork and passing done the authorities border.”

The authorities transportation retired this enactment “daily," and connected Tuesday different radical of migrants is expected to permission Belarus, said Alexei Begun, caput of the section for citizenship and migration astatine the ministry. Begun didn't notation the nationality of the migrants oregon countries they departed to.

Last week, much than 400 Iraqi migrants near Belarus connected an evacuation formation organized by Iraqi authorities.

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Since Nov. 8, a ample radical of people, mostly from the Middle East, has been stranded successful Belarus astatine a borderline crossing with Poland, trapped arsenic forces from the 2 countries look disconnected against each other. Most are fleeing struggle oregon a consciousness of hopelessness astatine home, and purpose to scope Germany oregon different Western European countries.

The West has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of luring the migrants to the borderline to usage them arsenic pawns to destabilize the 27-nation European Union successful retaliation for its sanctions connected his authoritarian government. Belarus denies orchestrating the crisis, which has seen migrants entering the state since summertime and past trying to transverse into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

About 2,000 radical are presently staying astatine a warehouse installation adjacent the borderline with Poland. Lukashenko has said a full of 7,000 migrants stay successful the country.

The spokesperson for Poland’s information services, Stanislaw Zaryn estimated astir 10,000 migrants are successful Belarus now.

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Officials of the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' bureau arrived successful Belarus connected Tuesday to sermon assistance transportation and paperwork needed to repatriate the migrants.

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Monika Scislowska contributed to this study from Warsaw, Poland.

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