Lukashenko accuses Lithuania of killing migrants in border area

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Monday accused Lithuania of killing migrants, following reports of another death on the country's eastern border.
"In this migration crisis, the villains have gone so far as to kill people," Lukashenko said during a meeting with representatives of the Belarusian Defence Ministry.
Migrants are being brought to the Belarusian border "dead or maybe half-dead" from the EU side and dumped there, claimed the 67-year-old, appearing in military uniform.
The European Union has accused Lukashenko, often dubbed "Europe's last dictator," of deliberately flying in people from war-torn countries such as Iraq and Syria and pushing them onwards towards his country's border with the EU. Migrants have also repeatedly complained of mistreatment at the hands of Belarusian security forces.
The Belarusian border guard announced on Monday morning that a man had been found dead on the border with Lithuania, after another body was discovered at the weekend. The information could not be independently verified, due to journalists and aid organizations not being allowed access to the border zone from the Polish side.
The International Red Cross recently reported more than 10 deaths in the border stand-off along the EU's eastern flank.
Poland's border guard said on Monday that a total of 92 migrants had attempted to cross into Polish territory from Belarus within 24 hours.
Pope Francis sharply criticized the use of migrants as leverage in political haggling on Monday. Time and again refugees were used like "pawns on the chessboard," the Pope wrote in a letter to the UN Organization for Migration (IOM) to mark its 70th anniversary.
"How can suffering and despair be exploited like this to defend or push through one's political agenda? How can political trade-offs be more important than the dignity of the people at stake?" the Pope asked.
Some of the stranded migrants have been voluntarily repatriated in recent weeks, following a flurry of diplomatic activity from EU leaders as they seek to alleviate the problem.
However, an Iraqi Airways flight from Minsk to Iraq scheduled for Monday was cancelled without explanation, as was a flight scheduled for the day before.
Lukashenko has repeatedly stressed that Belarus would not force people to return home - and so many continue to wait out the cold in the hope of a life in Europe.