Merkel asks Putin to intervene with Belarus over migrants

By VANESSA GERA, MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The German government says Chancellor Angela Merkel has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene with Belarus over migration pressure at Poland’s border. Groups of migrants in Belarus have made bold attempts this week to cross into Poland, actions that Poland alleges Belarus has encouraged. Merkel’s office said the chancellor spoke with Putin by phone on Wednesday and underlined that the exploitation “of migrants against the European Union by the Belarusian regime is inhuman and completely unacceptable.” Russia is a close ally of the government in Belarus. Meanwhile, the EU said for the first time that it was discussing possibly funding a wall on its external borders.