Around 500 farmers with UK visas are trapped in Belarus after the flight ban
Around 500 farmers from Belarus, who were recruited under a government visa scheme, have been left trapped in Belarus after the UK banned flights from the country this week.
Trying to help the UK with its summer harvest, farmworkers have been trying to find indirect flights from neighbouring countries to get to the UK, after Sunday’s plane hijacking, according to the Telegraph.
Belarusian prime minister Alexander Lukashenko ordered a Ryanair flight to land on Sunday, using a fake bomb alert, to divert the Irish airliner to Minsk and detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, a critic of Lukashenko’s regime.
The right-wing leader said that the 26-year-old journalist had been plotting a “bloody rebellion” against his regime, which many governments have rejected after a disputed election last year.
The news comes as the Belarusian leader prepared to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin at his Black Sea residence in Sochi, for talks on closer economic ties, according to the Kremlin.
For some farmers, the trip could be too expensive or difficult.
Ukraine closed its borders to incoming Belarus flights on Wednesday which would limit many rural workers to leave from Russia.
Around 150 workers already made it to the UK before the airspace troubles occurred. But another 500 are lined up for jobs in the UK and have visas ready to go.
The government has recruited some 30,000 foreign workers this year to come to the UK for agricultural work, up from 10,000 last year.
Many of the workers are coming from Belarus and Russia, where troubled economies have left farms receiving five applications for just one job.
The UK’s lucrative visa gives each worker six months of work and a £300-a-week pay package, much more than what they could earn in Belarus for a similar job.
In countries like Belarus, money earnt abroad accounts for up to a third of GDP, with many going abroad and sending money back to their families.