cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3952271
Russia appears to have teamed up with a Libyan warlord to trigger a fresh migrant crisis in the European Union
The European Commission is investigating a series of unusual flights from Minsk to Benghazi amid growing concern that Russia may be helping to drive a new wave of irregular migration to southern Europe, an EU official says. …
A sharp increase in the number of flights between Minsk and Benghazi, operated by Belarusian carrier Belavia, have raised suspicions in Brussels of possible coordination with Libyan authorities in eastern Libya – a region controlled by strongman Khalifa Haftar, who maintains close ties with the Kremlin.
“The frequency and nature of these flights raise questions about potential facilitation of irregular migration flows,” the EU official said.
Between January and June 2025, more than 27,000 migrants arrived in Italy from Libya, while over 7,000 reached the Greek island of Crete – triple the number from the same period last year.
Europe has faced a similar situation before. In the summer of 2021, Belarus was at the centre of a migration crisis on its borders with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Russia was believed to have been indirectly involved in that crisis, with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko playing a central role – facilitating the issuance of visas, organising flights, and transporting migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Minsk. Brussels now fears Moscow may be attempting a similar strategy via Libya, weaponising migration to sow division within the bloc. Ankara’s shadow
But Greece believes the EU is overlooking another player in the current crisis: Turkey.
Athens is alarmed by Ankara’s recent diplomatic overtures to both Libya and Italy. Last Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted a trilateral meeting in Ankara with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Libyan representatives to discuss migration and energy cooperation – a meeting from which Greece was pointedly excluded. Greek officials fear that the meeting marks a pivot in regional alignments, particularly given Turkey’s recent rapprochement with pro-Kremlin Haftar and plans to reopen its consulate in Benghazi.
Athens is also concerned by Ankara’s efforts to implement a controversial maritime border agreement with Libya, which ignores the existence of the Greek island of Crete.
The EU does not recognise the maritime deal, the EU official reiterated, noting that the issue was raised by the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, during her visit to Turkey last January.
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It relates as France is willing to work alongside Russian interests in North Africa, if France believes it to serve their own interests. Now it backfires and that was predictable. It also raises questions about France reliability in fending off Russian threats to the EU.
More in general it raises question about the EUs conduct towards Haftar, Libya and North Africa in general, believing that war-lord slave-traders would be suitable “partners” for fending of refugees reaching EU countries.
What was predictable?
France may or may not have collaborated with the Haftars in Libya, but if so, how was it predictable that Russia would collaborate with a warlord in Libya to trigger a migrant crisis in Europe?
As someone already said, all the governments cooperate at least in some areas, this may be sometimes wrong and misguided, but I feel raising the France’s Libya connection in this context and then claiming Russia’s move was predictable is a bit far-fetched.
Russia was collaborating with Haftar alongside France for years. Russia then using Haftar, once the hostility towards western Europe escalated, was predictable because it is run by Putin.
I am sorry, but this is almost hilarious. Russia runs a plot to trigger a migrant crisis in Europe, not France. I am far from being the French government’s greatest admirer, but this is really odd.
So you think it is hilarious to arm the same warlord as Russia and then Russia using that warlord to turn on you?
Truly hilarious. No lesson to be learnt from that…
I’d say every country is willing to work alongside every other country and wherever if it believes it to serve their own interests.
This is why Soviets and Nazis agreed to partition Poland together, this is why a few moments later the U.S. fought together with the Soviets against the Nazis. This is why Germany kept buying that cheap cheap Russian gas when their troops already paraded through the streets of Ukrainian Crimea and this is why Europe still trades with Russia despite the abhorrent war it is waging against Ukraine. So, where’s the news? Will you say the Soviets have their share of blame for the Nazi atrocities, as they cooperated with them in the beginning?
Russia wants to destabilise Europe and hence reaches out to those people that help it achieve that goal. If it wasn’t Haftar, it would be someone else.