BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union home affairs ministers will discuss a surge of illegal border crossings from Belarus to EU member state Lithuania at an extraordinary meeting on Aug. 18, the Slovenian EU presidency said on Friday.
Representatives of the EU border agency Frontex and Europol will also take part in the video conference, according to a letter by Slovenia to EU diplomats seen by Reuters.
“With the situation at the Lithuania-Belarus border, the EU has come under a serious security threat and is a witness of state-sponsored weaponisation of illegal migration in Belarus,” the text said.
Slovenia pressed for action, saying one aim of the meeting was to agree on measures to safeguard this part of the EU’s external border and to continue to support Lithuania.
The European Union summoned the Belarusian envoy in Brussels on Wednesday and held talks with the Iraqi government after accusing Belarus of using illegal migrants, largely Iraqis, as a political weapon against EU sanctions imposed on Minsk.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and other EU officials have also sought a solution with the Iraqi government which could include a suspension of flights from Baghdad to Minsk.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, writing by Sabine Siebold, editing by Nick Macfie)
