Iraq Says Evacuated Over 3,500 Citizens From Belarus Since Beginning Of Migrant Crisis

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2021) Since the beginning of the migrant crisis in Belarus, Iraq has evacuated from Minsk over 3,500 of its own citizens, Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ahmed Al Sahhaf said on Sunday.

"We conducted nine evacuation flights with 3,556 passengers (on board) carried out by Iraqi Airways," Al Sahhaf said.

In addition, Iraq issued 383 passports to its own citizens who were stuck in Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland who had previously lost their documents.

Thousands of migrants, many of whom are from Iraq and Syria have been stuck on just inside Belarus on the border with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania in an attempt to seek asylum in Europe. Lithuania, Latvia and Poland accuse Minsk of orchestrating the migrant crisis in retaliation for the EU sanctions. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko denied the accusations and said that his country no longer has the capacity to prevent the movement of migrants toward the EU due to sanctions.