The White House has vowed to hit Belarus with fresh sanctions as international condemnation of the country’s alleged “trafficking” of migrants towards the EU intensified.
The announcement came after President Joe Biden and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen met to discuss the crisis at the Belarus-Poland border, where thousands of migrants have been camping out in freezing conditions for days.
Thousands of migrants including babies and children caught up in the geopolitical dispute are stranded at the border where 15,000 Polish troops have amassed to keep them out of the EU frontier nation. At least eight people have died in the border no man’s land.
A spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council revealed on Wednesday night that the United States is preparing “follow up sanctions” designed to hold leaders in Belarus accountable for “ongoing attacks on democracy, human rights and international norms”.
“We are deeply concerned by the Lukashenka regime’s inhumane actions and strongly condemn their callous exploitation and coercion of vulnerable people,” the spokesman said.
The new sanctions will come in “close coordination with the EU and other partners and Allies.”
Earlier, Ms von der Leyen announced the EU would “very quickly expand our sanctions against Belarus” from the start of next week.
“This is a hybrid attack. Not a migration crisis,” she tweeted, following her meeting with Mr Biden at the White House.
She and Mr Biden also discussed the possibility of the US and Europe levying sanctions against airlines that fly migrants into Belarus.
The leaders agreed “this is an attempt by an authoritarian regime to try to destabilise democratic neighbours,” she said. “This will not succeed.”
I had a productive meeting with @POTUS at the White House⁰
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 10, 2021
We touched upon a series of issues including the situation at the border with Belarus⁰
This is a hybrid attack. Not a migration crisis
Beginning of next week, we will very quickly expand our sanctions against Belarus. pic.twitter.com/nsdCVLbyk4
European Council President Charles Michel has condemned what he described as a “brutal, hybrid attack on our EU borders”. “Belarus is weaponising migrants’ distress in a cynical and shocking way,” he said on Tuesday.
Experts say Belarus is seeking revenge against the EU for sanctions imposed on the Lukashenko regime following its brutal suppression of protests the erupted following his disputed election win in 2020.
Russia - Belarus’s most important ally - has accused Europe of failing to live up to its own humanitarian ideals by blocking the migrants and described the EU’s promised sanctions as unacceptable.
