EU considers sanctions on Minsk airport over migrant crisis; Lukashenko threatens to shut gas pipeline
- Bloc attempts to alleviate crisis on Poland-Belarus border where thousands of migrants have gathered, in freezing conditions
- Belarusian leader, accused of playing games with human lives, has warned he will retaliate against any new measures
The European Union is considering imposing sanctions on Belarus’ main airport in a bid to make it more difficult for airlines to bring in migrants and exacerbate a crisis on the bloc’s borders, diplomats said on Thursday.
The EU has accused Belarus of encouraging migrants to come to its territory then pushing thousands of them to cross into Poland and other neighbouring EU states in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Minsk.
As more migrants massed on the Belarus-Poland border on Thursday and Poland said around 150 people had tried overnight to break through to Polish territory, the EU was finalising a new, fifth round of sanctions on top Belarus officials and state-owned airline Belavia that could be approved next week, one diplomat said.
Meanwhile German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas assured neighbouring Poland of Europe‘s solidarity in the refugee crisis.
Speaking in the German parliament on Thursday, he accused Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of playing an unscrupulous game with human lives. The number of migrants staying along sections of the border is now estimated to be in the low thousands, living in deplorable conditions while hoping to cross into the EU.
“The problem is Lukashenko and Belarus and the regime that exists there,” said Maas, adding that Poland deserved European solidarity. The EU accuses Lukashenko of deliberately bringing migrants into the country in order to then bring them to the border.
Lukashenko, already under international sanctions for cracking down on protests, has threatened to retaliate against any new measures, including by shutting down a key gas pipeline.
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Wave of migrants trying to enter EU at Belarus-Poland border trapped in freezing weather
An extraordinary EU summit of the bloc’s 27 leaders is under consideration, while the bloc is also debating whether to use its common funding mechanisms to build border fencing, according to one of the diplomats who was briefed on a closed-door EU meeting that took place on Wednesday.
EU Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas was in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday as part of a visit to countries in the region whose airlines are operating flights to Belarus, diplomats and officials said.
The Belarusian airport of Hrodna, near the Polish and Lithuanian borders, could be an exit point to avoid thousands of people freezing to death at the border during the winter, diplomats said.
