Lukashenko assails EU for refusing to hold talks on migrants

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — The authoritarian leader of Belarus has criticized the European Union for its refusal to hold talks on the influx of migrants on the country’s border with Poland. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday urged Germany to accommodate about 2,000 migrants who remained on the border with Poland. The EU has accused Lukashenko’s government of orchestrating the migration surge as a “hybrid attack” in retaliation for the bloc’s sanctions over a Belarus crackdown on dissent. Belarus denies the charge. Poland’s Border Guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska said there were over 300 attempts by migrants Sunday to get across the razor wire border fence into the EU. She said Poland is planning return flights for hundreds of Iraqis now in its migrant centers.