EU condemns Belarus for ‘direct attack’ using migrants

By LORNE COOK and LIUDAS DAPKUS
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is condemning Belarus for what it says is an attempt to destabilize the bloc by deliberating sending scores of migrants across its borders. The EU presidency says this “is unacceptable and amounts to a direct attack.” Movements of people from Belarus across the border into Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have spiked since the EU imposed sanctions on Belarus officials over election fraud and a security crackdown. After an emergency meeting of EU interior ministers on Wednesday, the EU presidency said the Europeans will “take all necessary measures to effectively protect all the EU external borders.” Poland deployed nearly 1,000 troops at its border with Belarus to help guards cope with a surge of migrants, mostly from Iraq.