Merkel urged Putin to put pressure on Minsk's government to resolve migrant crisis on the border with Poland
According to RFE/RL, hundreds of migrants have massed outdoors in freezing temperatures along a razor-wire border between Belarus and Poland, as thousands of Polish border guards sought to block their entry into the European Union member state.
Polish radio RMF reported on November 10 that around 200 people had tried to breach the border a day earlier, and a second group of around 60 people tried after midnight.
Polish authorities say they have detained dozens who forced their way across its eastern border with Belarus. And defense officials accused Belarusian police of firing shots into the air, in an apparent attempt to frighten migrants and push them toward the border.
EU ambassadors agreed to broaden sanctions against Belarus in punishment for the migrant crisis. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 10, to ask him to use his influence with Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Merkel told Putin that “the instrumentalization of migrants by the Belarusian regime is inhumane and unacceptable," her spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted. She asked Putin “to influence it.”
The Kremlin issued a separate statement quoting Putin as saying the EU should engage in "direct contacts" with Minsk on the matter.
The influx of migrants to Belarus has been building for several months, with thousands of people from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa trying to illegally enter Poland, as well as fellow EU members Latvia and Lithuania.
The EU has accused Lukashenka of flying in migrants and funneling them to the bloc's borders to retaliate against Brussels for sanctions imposed after last year's disputed presidential election.
Lukashenka's government, which is backed by Russia, denies the EU charges and has accused Poland and the EU of violating human rights by refusing to allow the migrants to apply for asylum.
The Russian and Belarusian militaries share close ties, as do the two countries' intelligence and security services. The two militaries also hold regular joint exercises that in the past have included units deploying to the border with Poland, a member of NATO.
In what was a rare show of force, Russia on November 10 sent two nuclear-capable bomber aircraft flying over Belarusian airspace, a signal aimed at Poland and its NATO allies.
Moscow has also pushed for closer integration with Minsk for years, something that Lukashenka has resisted.
