Flights between Benghazi and Minsk have increased sharply in recent weeks, prompting European officials to accuse Russia, Belarus and Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of engineering a fresh migration crisis on the European Union’s eastern border. According to a European Commission spokesperson cited by The Telegraph, the frequency and timing of the Belavia-operated routes raise “questions about potential coordination or facilitation of irregular migration flows.” The pattern mirrors tactics used in 2021, when thousands of asylum seekers were funneled toward Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Western diplomats say Moscow and Minsk are leveraging Haftar’s control of eastern Libya to pressure the EU, which continues to back Ukraine in its war with Russia. Frontex has logged 5,456 illegal crossings on the bloc’s Eastern Land Border so far this year, while Warsaw and Baltic governments have expanded physical barriers and surveillance in response. The alleged operation comes days before President Vladimir Putin’s scheduled 15 August meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska, heightening concerns in Brussels that migration could again be weaponised to distract from Russia’s wider military and geopolitical agenda.