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Special Desk
President Vladimir Putin has warned Belarus. Belarus’s threat to cut off gas supplies to Europe would be a breach of contract with Russia, Putin has warned.
In an interview, Putin said President Alexander Lukashenko may have made the threat in a fit of temper. Lukashenko is facing new sanctions over a growing migrant crisis at the country’s western border with Poland.
Thousands of people, including those from Iraq, Syria and Yemen, are at the borders with Poland, enduring freezing conditions in the hope of crossing into the EU. The EU officials have accused Belarus of provoking the crisis to undermine the bloc’ security, which it denies.
Poland accused Belarusian soldiers of trying to cut through the razor-wire border fence so migrants could pass through.
Earlier, Polish police also said the body of a young Syrian man had been found in the forest not far from the border in the same area. At least eight migrants have been found dead on the Polish side of the border in recent months and an unknown number on the Belarusian side.
Poland has been accused of pushing people back across the border into Belarus, contrary to international rules of asylum. The migrants are mainly young men – but there are also women and children. They are camping in tents just inside Belarus, trapped between Polish guards on one side and Belarusian guards on the other. Belarusian authorities say they are supplying them with food and heating.
Belarus is already under EU sanctions following Lukashenko’s disputed re-election last year, which was followed by a violent crackdown on the opposition. European countries get about a third of their gas supplies from Russia, some via a Russian-owned pipeline running through Belarus.
Russian President Putin has insisted that Russia has absolutely nothing to do with the ongoing crisis at the Poland-Belarus border, where thousands of people are stranded in desperate conditions.
The migrants — most of whom are from the Middle East and Asia, and who are hoping to travel on from Poland deeper into Europe — have been gathering on the Belarusian side of the border. They are enduring bitter weather and a lack of food and medical attention. Tensions are rising on the Poland-Belarus border.
Belarus Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said that the Belarusian side was doing everything possible to reduce the flow of migrants.
Meanwhile, Poland has deployed 15,000 soldiers to the border to prevent illegal crossings, the Polish defense minister said. Some 4,500 people have tried to cross the border since the start of this month, according to the Polish Border Guard, who accused Belarus of equipping migrants with tear gas.
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The border guard added that overnight, near the Polish town of Czeremcha, Belarusian soldiers first began to destroy the temporary border fence, then tore out fence posts and barbed wire with a service vehicle. It also repeated its claim that Belarusian authorities were using lasers and strobe lights against Polish security services at the border.
Putin said that he had spoken to his Belarus counterpart twice and hadn’t even had a hint of the threat to cut off gas supplies. Lukashenko’s comments raised fresh fears amid worsening natural gas shortages and rising prices in Europe.
