The European Commission is investigating a series of unusual flights from Minsk to Benghazi, suspecting they may be linked to a new Kremlin-backed effort to fuel irregular migration into southern Europe, an EU official told Euractiv.
Operated by Belarusian airline Belavia, the flights have triggered concern in Brussels over possible coordination with Libyan authorities in the eastern region, which is controlled by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, a key ally of Russia.
“The frequency and nature of these flights raise questions about potential facilitation of irregular migration flows,” the official said, pointing to a sharp increase in arrivals to Italy and Greece from Libya.
Between January and June 2025, over 27,000 migrants reached Italy from Libya, while more than 7,000 arrived in Crete — three times higher than the same period last year.
The EU sees echoes of the 2021 migration crisis, when Belarus orchestrated migrant flows to the borders of Poland and the Baltic states. At the time, Belarus, allegedly with Russian backing, issued visas and flew in migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
Brussels now fears Moscow may be replicating that strategy via Libya to destabilise Europe by weaponising migration flows.
Meanwhile, Greek officials have voiced concern that the EU is overlooking Turkey’s role in the crisis. Athens was excluded from a recent Ankara summit involving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Libyan representatives, which focused on migration and energy.
Greece is alarmed by Turkey’s outreach to Haftar and plans to reopen its consulate in Benghazi, seeing it as a shift in regional alliances. Ankara’s push to implement a contested maritime border agreement with Libya — one that ignores Greek territorial claims — has further heightened tensions.
The EU has reaffirmed its rejection of the maritime deal, with the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas raising the issue during her January visit to Turkey.
