German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (November 10) to ask for his help in resolving the migrant crisis on Belarus's borders with Poland and Lithuania, Reuters reports.
"Today I spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him to have an impact on President Lukashenko as well", Merkel told reporters at a joint news conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa and Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karinsin at the German government's guest house north of Berlin, Schloss Meseberg castle. "People are being used here. They are, so to speak, victims of an anti-human policy. And something must be done about that," she added.
Karinsin called the situation at the Belarussian borders with his country as well as with Poland and Lithuania a "state-sponsored human trafficking".
"We have very clear understanding that the only way to secure the Schengen zone, the free movement of people within the European Union, is to have clear outer borders with clear procedures of entering the European Union. It must be organized. It cannot be disorganized like this, especially from a state actor which is involving third country nationals," Karinsin said.
The European Union accused Belarus on Wednesday of mounting a "hybrid attack" by pushing migrants across the border into Poland, paving the way for widened sanctions against Minsk in a crisis that threatens to draw in Russia and NATO.
Russia took the rare step of dispatching two nuclear-capable strategic bombers to patrol Belarusian airspace in a show of support for its close ally. Poland briefed fellow NATO allies at a closed-door meeting and they pledged their support, an alliance official said.
Migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa trapped in Belarus made multiple attempts to force their way into Poland overnight, Warsaw said, announcing that it had reinforced the border with extra guards.
The bloc's 27 ambassadors agreed this constituted a legal basis for further sanctions, which could come as early as next week and target some 30 individuals and entities including the Belarusian foreign minister and the national airline.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin have pinned the blame on the EU.
The Kremlin accused Europe of failing to live up to its own humanitarian ideals and trying to "strangle" Belarus with plans to close part of the frontier. Moscow said it was unacceptable for the EU to impose sanctions on Belarus over the crisis.
