Putin’s alliance with Libyan general could trigger new EU migration crisis – Telegraph

The Telegraph, citing unnamed officials familiar with the matter, reported this.

The European Commission has noted an increase in flights between Benghazi, in eastern Libya, and Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

According to officials, this points to possible coordination with General Haftar, who controls much of eastern Libya, to push a wave of illegal migration into the bloc.

This could repeat the summer of 2021, when tens of thousands of asylum seekers were moved across Belarus’s borders – a move officials say Russia orchestrated to destabilize the EU.

“We are monitoring recent Minsk-Benghazi flights operated by Belavia Airlines. The frequency and nature of these flights, particularly within a short timeframe, raise questions about potential co-ordination or facilitation of irregular migration flows,” a European Commission spokesman said.

Open-source data shows a rise in flights between the two cities: two in May, five in June, and four in July.

Previously, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was accused of letting migrants land in Minsk on similar flights and then moving them to makeshift camps on the borders with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

The Telegraph notes that in the first seven months of this year, the EU recorded around 5,000 illegal crossings of its eastern land borders.

While the number of flights between Libya and Belarus has dropped compared to last year, even a small number could spark a new wave of arrivals aiming to cross into the EU.

In Europe, it is believed that Putin may again use his influence in Libya to target the continent.

• Recently, Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service reported that Lukashenko is once more using Belarus as a transit route for illegal migrants to Poland, with some flows coming from Libya, directly or via Russia.