On Sunday, ways of ending the crisis of Iraqi migrants stranded on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border were discussed by Baghdad and Vilnius.
Earlier on Sunday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who arrived in Baghdad, met with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein.
In a press conference following his talks with Landsbergis, Hussein stated that “Iraq was able to return 4,000 Iraqis, who were stranded on Belarus’ border with Lithuania and Poland.”
Without giving an exact number, the foreign minister also said there are still some Iraqi migrants stranded on the border, adding that “they will be returned to Iraq voluntarily upon their approval.”
For his part, the Lithuanian foreign minister said Iraq was the first country to stop flights with Belarus to stop the influx of migrants on the EU border.
He expressed that his talks in Iraq also dwelt on ways of boosting bilateral cooperation in various fields.
The EU countries bordering Belarus, namely Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, have reported a drastic rise of irregular crossings since August.
Belarus reaches out to potential travelers through seemingly official channels, according to the EU, including diplomatic missions and travel agencies, and invites them to Belarus by offering them visas, after which they are then allegedly guided to the EU border.
