VIENNA: Belarusian opposition head Svetlana Tikhanovskaya on Monday appealed to EU ministers "to refrain from any contacts" with Alexander Lukashenko, describing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s calls with the Belarusian ruler as "very strange".
The West accuses Belarus of bringing in people mostly from the Middle East and taking them to areas along its borders with EU members Poland and Lithuania with promises of an easy crossing. Last week Lukashenko and Merkel spoke by phone twice, discussing the migrant crisis and agreeing to maintain contact.