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How Belarus is helping ‘tourists’ break into the EU

We've been tracking Idris and his friends since they left northern Iraq in late September. Idris has recorded their progress on his phone and sent us a series of videos along the way.

The group are Syrian Kurds, in their 20s, looking to Europe for a better future. They are all from Kobane, the scene of ferocious fighting between Kurdish fighters and Islamic State militants in late 2014.

But while their motives - political instability at home, fear of conscription, lack of employment - are the familiar refrain of migrants the world over, the route they have taken is new.

Idris admits he might not have tried to leave Syria if Belarus's autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, had not offered a new, apparently safer route.

"Belarus has an ongoing feud with the EU," he told me, when I asked him why he had decided to attempt the journey to Europe. "The Belarus president decided to open its borders with the EU."

...

The process so far had been relatively simple. To find out just how simple, we flew to northern Iraq to meet the people involved.

Irbil is the bustling capital of the country's autonomous Kurdish region. A city of more than one-and-a-half million people, it's home to hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Syria, as well as other parts of Iraq.

For many, it's also where the journey to Europe begins.

Not that you'd know that immediately. There are travel agents, to be sure. Lots of them. But this is a word of mouth business, with travel tips disseminated online in Facebook and chat groups.

In an office strewn with passports - mostly Syrian - Murad took me through the process. Murad is not his real name. Even though his role is not illegal - all he does is arrange the visas and flights to the Belarusian capital Minsk - he doesn't want to be identified.

Back in the summer, with news of Mr Lukashenko's threat to the EU bouncing all over social media, Murad contacted friends in Belarus, asking about the new visa rules.

"They said 'yes, it's easy now'," Murad recalled.

"I knew it's going to be the same as what happened in 2015 with Turkey."

..tundub et baatja eskaleerib juurde

Chupacabra kirjutas:Batja on valmis eskaleerima laipadeni. Kui Euroopa ei ole valmis samani eskaleerima, siis on ta juba ette kaotanud.

Miki kirjutas:Migrantide hulgas tuvastasid Poola ohvitserid ka tsiviilriietes Valgevene sõdureid, kes lõikasid kääridega okastraati.