2 yıl önce

Tensions high at Poland-Belarus border as EU considers sanctions on Minsk

EU foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels to adopt new criteria to expand Belarus sanctions as mounting migrant crisis in the region continues to concern the international community.

Reuters

Tensions remain high at the border, where Poland sent thousands of troops and Belarus held joint drills with Russian paratroopers.

Tensions have remained high on the Belarus-Poland border with hundreds trapped in a no-man's land as the European Union is set to adopt new criteria to expand Belarus sanctions amid growing migrant crisis.

EU foreign ministers are set to approve new criteria for imposing sanctions on individuals and organisations that facilitate illegal entry into the EU from Belarus at a meeting on Monday.

The Foreign Affairs Council will meet in Brussels to discuss the main topics on the agenda of the EU, especially Belarus.

Officials said the new criteria will be approved for the inclusion of persons or entities on the sanctions list in Belarus due to the latest migrant crisis at the Belarus-Poland border.

Meanwhile, Poland sent thousands of troops to the area, and Belarus said it would "respond harshly to any attacks" on Friday, holding joint drills with Russian paratroopers near the border.

Two Russian soldiers died during the snap exercises when their parachutes malfunctioned in strong winds, the defence ministry in Moscow said.

Polish border guards put the number of migrants on the border at between 3,000 and 4,000, with more arriving every day. The migrants have been stuck for days on the border in near-freezing temperatures.

Travel bans

The West accuses Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko of luring thousands of migrants from the Middle East to his country to send across the border into the EU in revenge for sanctions.

Steps were being taken to stem the flow of migrants, with Ankara saying that Iraqis, Syrians and Yemenis would no longer be allowed on flights from Turkey to Belarus.

Iraq said it was drawing up lists of its citizens blocked on the border who wanted to go home and was ready to organise repatriation trips. It had also closed Belarusian diplomatic missions that had been providing Iraqis with tourist visas.

A German foreign ministry spokeswoman said talks were continuing with airlines and countries along possible migrant routes, and that the Turkish ban showed "we already have some success".

US President Joe Biden on Friday expressed concern about the situation in Belarus.

"We think it's a great concern. We communicated our concern to Russia, we communicated our concern to Belarus," Biden told reporters as he departed the White House for a weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat. "We think it's a problem."