(AP) Belarus is introducing a visa-free travel arrangement with dozens of countries for a month, raising fears that neighboring Poland and Lithuania might see a sudden increase in unauthorized migration.
The authoritarian president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, signed a decree allowing citizens of 73 countries — including ones in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America — to travel to Belarus without a visa to attend an annual music festival he personally opens to promote his nation’s global integration.
Festival ticket holders will be able to enter Belarus without a visa from July 4-23.
The governments of Lithuania and Poland see the move as a threat that will bring another influx of migrants, such as those who massed at borders with the European Union in the thousands in 2021 after transiting through Belarus.
