Belarus moves to stop Lithuania from sending back migrants

Belarus’ border protection agency says it has tightened control along the border with Lithuania to prevent Lithuanian authorities from sending migrants back to Belarus

KYIV, Ukraine -- Belarus' border protection agency said on Friday that it tightened control along its border with Lithuania to prevent Lithuanian authorities from sending migrants back to Belarus. Lithuania, a member of the European Union, has faced an influx of mostly Iraqi migrants in the past few months. It accused the government of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging the migrant flow in retaliation for the EU sanctions against his country following the diversion of a passenger plane to arrest a dissident journalist aboard. Lukashenko responded on Thursday by ordering defense and security agencies to “close every meter of the border” in order not to let immigrants Lithuania turns away back into Belarus. “God forbid they start implementing the policy of removing people they invited over there through official border crossing points,” Lukashenko said during a meeting with defense and security officials. “Starting from today, not a single person should set foot on the territory of Belarus from the opposite side, be it from the south or from the west.”