Belarus says camps on Polish border have been cleared of people

Belarus has said the hastily constructed migrant camps on its border with Poland have been cleared of people in a sign that Minsk is keen to defuse the deadly crisis that its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, helped to create.

On Thursday, that crisis claimed its 13th victim after an NGO reported that a one-year-old child had died after his family attempted the perilous journey through Belarus into the EU.

News agency photographs taken at the scene supported the reports, showing tents, clothes and other belkongings seemingly left abandoned.

It is unclear where they will go from there.

On Thursday, a press spokesperson for Lukashenko also claimed that he and Merkel had discussed creating a humanitarian corridor to Germany for 2,000 of the migrants on the border, and that Belarus had agreed to help transport the remaining 5,000 back to their country of origin, mainly Syria or Iraq.

Migrants from Syria, Iraq and other countries in the Middle East have reported spending more than ?10,000 in travelling to Belarus and then contracting smugglers to help them across the border. Many have said they have no plans to go back.

The suggestion of a secret deal between Lukashenko and Merkel on migration is politically explosive but the Belarusian leader has reason to exaggerate the results of his talks with Merkel.

Germany has not confirmed striking any deal for a humanitarian corridor with Lukashenko and media on Thursday cited government sources denying that a deal had been made. The EU has confirmed that only technical talks would be held with the Belarusian government in order to manage the return of migrants to their home countries.

Nonetheless, European politicians have expressed anger at Germany and Merkel for engaging directly with Lukashenko, who had not spoken with a single EU leader since he launched a brutal crackdown on the opposition last year.

Landsbergis also said that at least one EU government had sought to remove Belavia, the Belarusian state airline, from a sanctions list agreed to by EU foreign ministers earlier this week. Politico has reported that Germany and Italy have held back on signing off on the full sanctions list because of a last-minute limits by the airline on flights with Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni nationals from Istanbul. The publication also reported that a Syrian airline could be taken off the sanctions list.