In a statement issued on Thursday, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s spokeswoman, Natalia Eismont, said that the agreement had been reached after a call between the two heads of state.
According to her, under the deal proposed by Minsk, “the EU will create a humanitarian corridor for 2,000 refugees,” and Merkel will lead negotiations in Brussels to secure their safe passage to Germany.
In return, Eismont said, Belarus will arrange flights for the remaining 5,000 migrants in camps along the frontier back to their homelands. However, at present, she added, only 400 or so have currently taken up the offer, with the first flight leaving Minsk for Iraq earlier on Thursday.
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