Iraqis willing and able to pay thousands of dollars for would-be "package deals" to the EU via Belarus have a variety of itineraries to choose from.

As thousands of migrants remain stuck in the cold at the razor wire fence along the Belarus-Poland border, AFP spoke with travel agents and migrants involved.

The EU has accused Belarus, which is backed by Russia, of engineering the crisis and taken steps to stop flights from the Middle East to Minsk -- but travel agents in Baghdad say they have found other ways.

"Now everything is going through Russia," a staff member of one travel agency told AFP, asking not to be named.

"A tourist visa for Russia costs $700. Travellers need an invitation and a guarantor. That takes about 10 days to arrange. The flight itself costs $500.

"Once in Russia, traffickers take them secretly overland to the border with Belarus, and that costs another $500."

The costs can add up to almost $2,000 for Iraqis, a huge sum for many in the war-scarred country where the average monthly salary is $300.

- Ankara travel 'hub' -

For Iraqi Kurds, who make up the majority of migrants bound for Belarus, Dubai, Doha and Ankara offer alternative routes, according to Mera Jassem Bakr, an Iraqi Arab researcher and expert on Kurdish emigration.

They do not even need visas for Qatar if Doha is only a transit point.

As for the Turkish capital, it has turned into "a hub" to acquire visas for Belarus in the migrants' vain efforts to start a new life in the European Union, explained Bakr.

The Kurds hand their passport to travel agents, who send documents to colleagues in Ankara to apply for Belarus visas.

"Around two months ago, the whole package cost $2,500. Now it is something between $3,500 up to $4,000," Bakr said.

Turkey last week banned Iraqis, Yemenis and Syrians from flights to Belarus, while the former Soviet country's carrier Belavia has announced a similar measure on flights from Dubai.

- 'Exhausted and sick' -

Bakr, 28, is one of the thousands of desperate migrants camped on the Belarus side of the border with EU member Poland.

"We're exhausted and sick," said the young man, reached by telephone.

"We got here on a tourist visa a week ago. Because there are no more flights between Baghdad and Minsk, we passed through Dubai.

"Some people paid $3,000 dollars, others as much as $25,000 or $30,000, to a travel agent in Baghdad."

The Belarus consulates in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil closed almost two weeks ago at the request of the Iraqi government, to cut off the flow of visas.

The government ordered a halt to Baghdad-Minsk flights in August, when hundreds of migrants, mostly Iraqis, converged on the Belarus border with Lithuania before the focus turned to Poland.

Western countries accuse Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's government of engineering the crisis by encouraging migrants to travel to Belarus and then taking them to the border.

Brussels has moved to sanction Belarusian travel agencies and the state airline.

Baghdad is organising a "voluntary" repatriation flight on Thursday for its citizens stuck on the border where thousands of Polish security forces have been deployed to keep them out.

Iraq has recorded more than 550 of its citizens who have said they are willing to return, according to foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Sahaf.

Russia criticises Polish use of tear gas on migrants
Moscow (AFP) Nov 16, 2021 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said the use of tear gas and water cannon by Polish forces to stop migrants entering from Belarus was "absolutely unacceptable".

"The behaviour of the Polish side is absolutely unacceptable," he told a press conference in Moscow, citing "tear gas and a water cannon and shots fired above the heads of migrants towards the direction of Belarus".

Thousands of migrants have camped at the Poland-Belarus border in a crisis Brussels says was orchestrated by Minsk possibly with the backing of Moscow.

Minsk and Moscow deny the claims and Russia has stood by its ally in the stand-off.

Polish forces fired tear gas at stone-throwing migrants trying to cross the border from Belarus on Tuesday, Warsaw said.

Warsaw said a Polish police officer was seriously injured in the border clashes.

Polish border guards estimate up to 4,000 migrants are now camped out along its border with Belarus in increasingly dire conditions and freezing temperatures.

Most of the migrants are from the Middle East, with many from Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraq's embassy in Moscow said Tuesday that it will fly out around 200 people from Belarus on Thursday

Baghdad had earlier said it would organise repatriations on a "voluntary" basis.

At least 11 migrants have died on both sides since the influx started in the summer.

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Belarus will respond to attacks; Iraq offers repatriate volunteers
Moscow (AFP) Nov 12, 2021
Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin warned Friday of a harsh military response to any attacks following a migrant crisis on the border with EU member Poland. In an effort to tackle a migrant crisis on the border with Belarus, Poland has moved 15,000 troops to the frontier, put up a fence topped with barbed wire and approved the construction of a wall. Khrenin said it appeared that Poland wanted to drag Europe into a full-blown military conflict with Belarus and that the build-up of foreig ... read more