EU to step up response in Belarus row

The European Union is close to imposing new sanctions against about 30 Belarusian individuals and entities, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

"Very rapidly at the beginning of next week there will be a widening of the sanctions against Belarus," she told reporters after meeting with US President Joe Biden, noting that those targeted would include Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei and the Belarusian airline Belavia.

Sanctions may also be slapped on officials who the European Union claimed were responsible for the migration crisis on the borders of Belarus with EU countries.

"We will look into the possibility of sanctioning those airlines who facilitate human trafficking toward Minsk and then the EU-Belarus border," she said.

Concerns are growing for more than 2,000 migrants-mainly Kurds from the Middle East-who are trapped at the border. The United Nations Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting on the issue on Thursday.

The EU and NATO have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of using migrants as a weapon to pressure the West by sending people fleeing the Middle East to Minsk and then onto the borders of Poland and the Baltic states.

Polish officials said on Wednesday they had seen a surge in attempts to breach the border, and personnel pushed back hundreds of migrants to Belarus. The country accused Minsk of "state terrorism "by provoking a new migrant crisis in Europe.

15,000 troops

So far, Poland has sent 15,000 troops to the border along with police and border guards, and has foiled about 32,000 attempts by migrants to illegally cross from Belarus this year, Russian state news agency Tass said.

"What we are facing here, we must be clear, is a manifestation of state terrorism," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters in Warsaw at a news conference with visiting European Council chief Charles Michel.

"This is not a migration crisis. This is a political one which is orchestrated to destabilize the situation in the EU," Morawiecki said in blaming the Belarusian and Russian authorities.

Belarus has in turn accused Poland of violating international norms by blocking the migrants and beating them back.

Lukashenko has warned that the EU should expect an influx of migrants attempting to seek asylum in the near future, as people leave Afghanistan following its takeover by the Taliban.

"The Americans created immigrants, but ordered Europe and Central Asia to accept (them)," Lukashenko said.

He said some Afghan migrants have come to Belarus via Central Asia and Russia, while others have taken alternative routes.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday called Lukashenko's main ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him "to use his influence" with Minsk to stop what she called an "inhumane" use of migrants as instruments.

The call came a day after Morawiecki accused Putin of being behind the migrant crisis. The Kremlin said it was "irresponsible" for Poland to make the accusation.