Belarus opposition leader warns of border migration crisis

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called for the global community to stop a “humanitarian catastrophe” which she said is being created by the Belarusian regime as it facilitates largescale migration into the European Union

WARSAW, Poland -- Belarus' exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Wednesday urged the global community to stop a “humanitarian catastrophe” which she said is being created by the Belarusian regime facilitating largescale migration into the European Union.

Thousands of migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa have been lured to Belarus on tourist visas and encouraged to cross into Poland, Lithuania, and to a lesser extent Latvia — all three EU nations that border Belarus.

Several recently died of exhaustion as they tried to get from Belarus to Poland across an area of forests and swamps.

Tsikhanouskaya warned that as winter approaches, she fears those deaths "will grow into dozens.”