Enlarge image
Dictator Alexander Lukashenko
Photo:
Pavel Orlovsky / dpa
Belarus has warned Poland against provocations because of the influx of migrants at the border.
"We would like to warn the Polish side in advance against using any provocations directed against the Republic of Belarus to justify possible illegal military actions against disadvantaged unarmed people (...)," said a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Minsk on Tuesday .
The government in Warsaw and the EU are accusing the authoritarian Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of targeting people from crisis regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq in order to smuggle them into the EU.
On Monday, according to Polish authorities, larger groups of migrants on the Belarusian side near the Kuznica border crossing, which has now been closed, tried in vain to break through the fence.
According to Polish authorities, there were between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants in the border area.
When the temperature was below zero, many spent the night in tents in the forest (read more here).
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczack traveled to the border on Tuesday.
The Defense Ministry tweeted that they visited the security forces protecting Poland's eastern border early in the morning at the Kuznica crossing.
Photos were attached to the post showing, among other things, how Morawiecki spoke to the uniformed men.
In a Facebook post, the Polish head of government thanked the police, soldiers and border guards for their "hard work" in view of the tense situation at the border.
Morawiecki sees the EU in danger due to the influx of thousands of migrants on the Polish border with Belarus.
"Today the stability and security of the entire EU is at stake," he wrote on Twitter.
Lithuania wants to declare a state of emergency
In view of the worsening situation on the EU's external border with Belarus, Lithuania wants to impose a state of emergency in the border region for one month.
The government of the Baltic EU country submitted a resolution to the parliament in Vilnius for approval on Tuesday.
The cabinet is following a proposal by Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite.
The state of emergency should therefore apply from midnight along the border with Belarus and five kilometers inland and in the migrant shelters in Kybartai, Medininkai, Pabrade, Rukla and Vilnius.
Riots broke out there on Monday - tear gas was used in a camp.
as / dpa