EU agrees on new sanctions on Belarus, airlines for border crisis

The western bloc is seeking to stop what it says is a Belarusn policy to push migrants towards it in retaliation for previous sanctions related to the crackdown on protests last year against veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko's controversial re-election.

Migrants mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan began to appear at Belarus's land borders with the EU this year, trying to cross into member states Lithuania, Latvia and Poland through previously-used roads.

This inhuman refugee use system as a means to exert pressure on the European Union has deteriorated over recent days,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, pledging to target those involved in what he called “human trafficking”.

EU senior diplomat Josep Borrell said a fifth package of sanctions was agreed on by EU foreign ministers and would be finalised in the coming days. They would target airlines, travel agencies and individuals involved in the “this illegal push of migrants”, he said.

Blocked on the Belarus side of the border and increasingly desperate, immigrants have tried to force improvised fences in some places in recent days.

Poland, which has reported 5,100 irregular efforts to cross the border so far in November, has been criticised for dealing with those who cross it.

Latvia said today it had deployed 3,000 troops for an unprecedented military exercise near the border. It, Lithuania and Poland make up the eastern wing of the EU and NATO, the main Western military alliance.

Middle Eastern travel agencies working together with operators in Belarus have offered tourist visas for thousands in recent months, a Reuters investigation revealed.

The EU executive said he was considering whether other airlines should face sanctions as the bloc banned the state carrier of Belarus Belavian from its skies and airports.

Belarus's Foreign Ministry said the charges Minsk had created the immigrant crisis were “absurde”, while Lukaschenko said Belarus was trying to convince immigrants to go home, but none of them wanted to return. Minsk will retaliate against any new EU sanctions.

The EU has tightened sanctions on Belarus for months. The already established restrictions include the blacklisting of Lucasenco, his son and 165 other Belarusan officials, as well as restrictions on the Pots trade, an important export.

At least eight people have died along the 200km-long land border between Poland and Belarus, including cold and fatigue. The few - populated area of lakes, marshes, and forests is becoming even more hostile to people who try to warm themselves around fires during the cold nights of November.

Polish border guards today said several hundred people had gathered on the Belarusite side of a closed border post in Kuznica and could try to enter Poland.

Maas and Borrell asked Warsaw to allow humanitarian assistance at the border, where Poland has deployed around 20,000 police officers, border guards and soldiers.

Poland's nationalist government was also criticised by human rights activists for trying to disrupt all immigrants without giving individuals the opportunity to seek asylum.

East EU states, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have warned of a danger of military conflict. Their presidents and Poland's Andreze Duda said today that Lukashenko should be held responsible for the trafficking of human beings.

Poland and Lithuania are considering NATO's application for consultations on the situation according to the collective security provisions of military alliances.