Czechs pledge 530,000 euros to Lithuania for Belarus border

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The Czech Republic has pledged 530,000 euros to Lithuania to secure its border with Belarus in the wake of thousands of migrants crossing over from the former Soviet republic. The pledge for monetary support was made on Tuesday. It is the latest European Union country to offer assistance to Lithuania which has faced an influx of mostly Iraqi migrants in the past few months. Lithuania has accused the government of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging the migrant flow in retaliation for EU sanctions against his country following the diversion of a passenger plane to arrest a dissident journalist aboard.