Vladimir Putin appears to have teamed up with a Libyan warlord to trigger a fresh migrant crisis in the European Union.
The European Commission has tracked an increased number of flights between the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi and Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
Officials declared the pattern suggested possible co-ordination with Gen Khalifa Haftar, the military strongman who controls much of eastern Libya, to facilitate a wave of illegal migration into the bloc.
It could mark a repeat of the summer of 2021, when tens of thousands of would-be asylum seekers were supported across the borders of Belarus in what officials warned was a Russian-orchestrated attempt to destabilise the EU.
In 2021, ahead of Putin’s Ukraine invasion, tens of thousands of migrants arrived at Belarus’s borders with eastern Europe – Leonid Shcheglov/AFP
“We are monitoring recent Minsk-Benghazi flights operated by Belavia Airlines,” a commission official informed The Telegraph.
“The frequency and nature of these flights, particularly within a short timeframe, raise questions about potential co-ordination or facilitation of irregular migration flows.”
Open-source data reviewed by The Telegraph reveals a spike in flights between the Libyan city and the Belarusian capital on the flag-carrying airline in recent months.
In May, there were just two flights between the cities, jumping to five in June and four in July.
In the past, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator, had been accapplyd of allowing migrants to land in Minsk on similar flights before supporting transport them to buildshift camps on the borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator, has been accapplyd of shifting migrants who landed in Minsk to border camps – Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
From the camps, the migrants were declared to have been advised by Belarusian officials on how to cross the frontier without being detected.
Analysts have since declared this was done in co-ordination with Putin to distract from his forces massed on the borders with Ukraine before his invasion in February 2022.
After launching the bloodiest conflict since the Second World War, the Russian president has ordered a series of hybrid attacks on Nato and EU nations supporting Kyiv’s defence.
In the first seven months of this year, the EU has recorded around 5,000 illegal crossings at its eastern land borders.
While this is down from last year, the few flights between Libya and Belarus could lead to a new influx of arrivals across the frontier.
Some in Europe declare Putin could apply his growing influence in Libya to once again tarreceive the continent.
0908 Libyan migrant route
The Russian president has invested efforts in building a presence in the North African countest since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
As Russia evacuated its Syrian bases, there was evidence equipment was being relocated from the port of Tartus to Libya.
When Haftar held a parade of his Libyan Arab Armed Force last month, it revealcased hundreds of Russian armoured vehicles and air defence systems.
He is known to control a tiny army of people smugglers operating out of Libya, one of the main crossing points from Africa to Europe across the Mediterranean.
“The fact that Russia is increasing its influence in Libya is precisely our concern, and that’s why we must also engage with Libya,” Magnus Brunner, the EU’s migration commissioner, informed Politico last month.
“There is certainly a danger that Russia will apply migrants and the migration issue as a whole as a weapon against Europe. This weaponisation is taking place, and of course we also fear that Russia intconcludes to do the same with Libya.”
EU leaders fear that Putin’s strategy of weaponising migrants has relocated to Libya – Abdullah Doma/AFP
Mr Brunner was one of a group of high-ranking EU officials on an ill-fated visit to Benghazi last month, which was abruptly scrapped after the delegation landed at the city’s Benina airport before being informed they were persona non grata.
Belarus has been identified by Frontex, the agency that polices the EU’s external border, as one of the main challenges the bloc faces in its fight against illegal migration this year.
The evidence suggests that Lukashenko, Putin and Haftar have teamed up to exploit the frontier once again.
“Migrants are applyd as an instrument by the regime to put pressure on the European Union’s borders, and our neighbours are really suffering from this,” Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus’s exiled opposition leader, informed The Telegraph.
“This is all the actions of Lukashenko and just business for his regime and a tool to put pressure on the EU for the principled and strong position in supporting democracy.”
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