Conflict on the border with Poland: Belarus accuses the EU of "provocation" of the crisis

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Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei (left) with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov

Photo: Yury Kochetkov / dpa

While thousands of refugees are stuck in icy temperatures in the border area between Belarus and Poland, the regime in Minsk is exercising blame: The West is responsible for the crisis on the border with Poland - with the aim of further sanctions against Minsk, said Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei on a visit to Moscow.

"The refugee crisis was provoked by the EU itself and its states bordering Belarus," he said.

Belarus hopes for "mutual support" from and by Russia, "including a common response to unfriendly actions against our country."

"With regard to a fifth round of sanctions, which are already being discussed in the West, the pretext this time is the migration crisis," Makei said.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Minsk and Moscow had effectively stepped up their cooperation "to counter a campaign against Belarus initiated by Washington and its European allies in international organizations."

The European Union (EU) accuses Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately bringing migrants into the country from the Middle East and then smuggling them in the direction of the EU states Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in order to retaliate against sanctions decisions taken in Brussels .

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas threatened Lukashenko on Wednesday night with an expansion and tightening of EU sanctions.

These had been imposed, among other things, for election fraud.

Merkel asks Putin to influence Belarus

Closer cooperation between Belarus and Russia is likely to run counter to the German government's wish that Moscow should exercise influence over Belarus in order to dissuade the Minsk regime from its previous line. In a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the morning, Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized that "the instrumentalization of migrants by the Belarusian regime is inhuman and unacceptable," as government spokesman Steffen Seibert announced on Twitter. Merkel asked Putin to influence the regime.

According to government spokesman Piotr Müller, Poland is now considering completely closing the border with Belarus. This will be considered as an option in more far-reaching scenarios, he said in an interview with the “Wirtualna Polska” portal. The Belarusian authorities had been informed that such a possibility would exist if they did not cease their activities. So far there has been no response from the Belarusian side.

Ukraine is also increasing its border troops because of the large number of migrants in Belarus. They should prevent border crossings. "The border guards are being reinforced with personnel, technology and special resources, including drones, as well as service dogs," said Deputy Interior Minister Yevheny Jenin. At the same time, he accused the neighboring country of wanting to destabilize the situation in Ukraine with the help of migrants.

The situation in the Belarusian-Polish border area is worsening.

Both countries have soldiers stationed in the area.

In the past 24 hours, there have been more and more border breaches.

Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak spoke of a restless night.

A Polish television station had previously reported that fences and barriers had been violently torn down.

According to this, some of the refugees had been returned to Belarus, but others were still in Poland.

svs / AFP