Distressed migrants often try to break the Polish border while the EU prepares sanctions on Belarus.

By Alan Charlish and Robin Emmott

SUPRASL, Poland (Reuters) – Migrants trapped in Belarus have made numerous attempts to enter Poland overnight, Warsaw said on Wednesday, announcing that the European Union was tightening its border while preparing to impose sanctions on Belarus.

The bloc’s 27 ambassadors will agree on Wednesday that the growing number of migrants flying to Belarus to reach the EU border is a “hybrid war” for President Alexander Lukashenko, the legal basis for the new sanctions.

“Mr. Lukashenko … unscrupulously exploits people who seek refuge as hostages because of his cynical power game,” acting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter (NYSE :).

The image of the Belarusian border, where people are stuck in a state of freezing with little food and shelter, has been described as “horrific”, but said the EU cannot be blackmailed.

The EU accuses Belarus of encouraging migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa to try to cross the border illegally in retaliation for human rights violations previously imposed on Minsk.

Lukashenko has refused to use migrants as a weapon and on Wednesday won a new show of support for his most powerful ally, Russia, blaming the EU for the crisis and sending two strategic bombers to guard Belarusian airspace.

“It is clear that there is a humanitarian catastrophe behind the reluctance of Europeans to show their commitment to European values,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a speech.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and called on Moscow to put pressure on Belarus over the border situation, a German government spokeswoman said. Putin’s office said Merkel had suggested that EU members discuss the crisis directly with Minsk.

Thousands of people have gathered at the border this week, where barbed wire fences and Polish soldiers have repeatedly blocked entry. Some of the migrants have used logs, spades and other tools to try to break them.

“It was not a quiet night. In fact, there were many attempts to break the Polish border,” Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told PR1.

The border video obtained by Reuters showed small children and babies among the people stuck in it.

“There are a lot of families here who have children between two and four months old. They haven’t eaten anything in the last three days,” the person who gave the video told Reuters, saying they were a migrant themselves and refused to register.

REINFORCEMENTS

The Polish border service reported an attempt to cross the illegal 599 border on Tuesday, arresting 9 people and returning 48. Blaszczak said the strength of Polish soldiers stationed on the border had been strengthened from 12,000 to 15,000.

After midnight, two groups of migrants were pushed back. There were about 200 people near the village of Bialowieza and another about two dozen retreated near Dubicze Cerkiewn, a spokesman told Reuters.

Lithuania’s EU neighbor, which followed in Poland’s footsteps by establishing a state of emergency on its border on Tuesday, said 281 migrants had been deported that day, the highest figure since August.

The EU accuses Lukashenko of using “gangster-like” tactics in a border situation that has lasted for months, killing at least seven migrants. The new EU sanctions will target around 30 people and entities, including the Belarusian Foreign Minister, three EU diplomats told Reuters.

The Lukashenko government blames Europe and the US for the plight of people on the border.

After the crisis erupted after the EU, the United States and Britain imposed sanctions on Belarus, Lukashenko sparked a controversial victory in the 2020 election over violent crackdowns on mass street protests.

Lukashenko turned to Russia’s traditional ally for help and funding to fight the protests. The migrant crisis has allowed Moscow to double its support for Belarus, a country seen as a strategic buffer against NATO, and to criticize the EU.

Peskov has accused the EU of trying to “drown” Belarus.

Poland denies that humanitarian groups are violating the right to international asylum by returning migrants to Belarus instead of accepting their requests for protection. Warsaw says its actions are legal.

Some migrants have repeatedly complained that they are being pushed by border guards in Poland and Belarus, putting them at risk of exposure due to lack of food and water.

“Yesterday we helped protect and evacuate a group of immigrants,” said Michal Swiatkowski, a 30-year-old Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski member of the Polish Red Cross rescue team.

“There were 16 people, most of them children. They didn’t need medical help, even though we gave them hot clothes, blankets and some food,” he told Reuters.