Afghan refugees will travel to Europe via Belarus, says Lukashenko

On Monday, Alexander Lukashenko said refugees from Afghanistan will travel via Belarus to get to Europe.

“There are different estimates of the possible number of refugees and migrants in the first wave. It is absolutely clear that people from Afghanistan […] will travel through our countries,” he said during a meeting of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The strongman leader of Belarus has previously enabled irregular migrants, mostly from Iraq, to cross the border into Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. Vilnius officials maintain that it is a “hybrid attack” in response to EU sanctions.

The European Union has imposed sanctions against the Minsk regime for the continuing violent crackdown against the opposition. Human rights groups say hundreds have been tortured by the Belarusian security forces.