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Bloomberg
Belarus provided shelter for migrants in a logistics hub near the Polish border, offering
temporary respite to an increasingly violent standoff on the European Union’s eastern frontier.
More than 1,000 people spent the night in a Belarusian warehouse near the Kuznica border crossing, which witnessed the worst clashes since the crisis began, state-owned news agency Belta reported.
The move followed diplomatic efforts to resolve the row, which threatens to turn into a military struggle and an even bigger humanitarian disaster as autumn temperatures drop below freezing.
Nine Polish soldiers were hurt after being pelted with rocks and other projectiles, including stun grenades, from across the border. They used water cannon and tear gas to repel attempts to storm the Kuznica crossing and registered 161 attempts of illegal entry from Belarus overnight, Poland’s border service said.
“Unfortunately, the night was also not peaceful,†Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday. “The intensity was obviously lower than what we could see in Kuznica, but the method of attacking is still the same†with smaller groups of migrants trying to breach the 416 kilometre border.
Faced with a prospect of new sanctions and accusations of waging a “hybrid attack†on EU, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko offered unclear path to resolve the conflict in talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei told EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that his country was “tightening†its migration regime.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko discussed “paths to resolving the crisis†but didn’t provide details. He called the start of direct talks between the EU and Minsk “very important.†The EU, which is seeking to stop flights of migrants, may next month announce new sanctions against Belarus, jointly with the US and possibly the UK.
Poland’s government said that 7,000 migrants may be in Belarus, including about 2,000 who have been ushered to the border region by authorities. Lithuania estimates that about 1,500 people were camped in the forests along its frontier with Belarus.
The government in Warsaw says the crisis has been manufactured by Lukashenko and Putin to destabilise the EU, an accusation rejected by both. The Belarus leader brutally cracked down on street protests in the wake of a disputed election last year, pushing opposition leaders into exile, mainly in Poland and Lithuania.