Merkel and Macron try to de-escalate crisis at Poland-Belarus border

Berlin/Warsaw (dpa) – Diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis on the Poland-Belarus border intensified Monday as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron threw their clout into resolving the stalemate that has left thousands of migrants stranded.

Merkel held a rare telephone conversation with Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko that lasted about 50 minutes, Belarusian state television reported, saying their focus was on de-escalating the situation and humanitarian support for the migrants.

There was no immediate confirmation from the German side about their conversation.

Macron, meanwhile, held a long telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is Lukashenko’s primary political backer.

The two spoke about the role Russia could play in easing the conflict that began simmering this summer, as well as the plight of the migrants, sources at the Elysee Palace in Paris said afterwards.

According to the Kremlin, Putin said that the heads of the EU states should discuss the problem directly with Lukashenko.

The EU accuses Lukashenko’s regime of luring people with lies to cross the Polish border, part of an attempt to put pressure on the EU for refusing to recognize his re-election last year and imposing several rounds of wide-ranging sanctions.

He denies the EU’s allegations that the people were allowed entry into Belarus from places like Afghanistan and the Middle East and then transported in an organized manner to the EU’s external border.

Most of the attention has been focused on the Polish border, where officials have erected barbed wire fences and set up controls to push back the migrants.

The migrants have reportedly not been allowed to go back by Belarusian forces, leaving thousands trapped in a no man’s land with dwindling resources as winter weather creeps in.

Polish authorities watching a border crossing near the town of Kuznica say the number of migrants on the Belarusian side is steadily growing. Police say the crowd now numbers at about 3,500, Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesperson for the country’s intelligence services, tweeted.

Zaryn said late Monday the situation at Kuznica was calm and that refugees had begun to set up a tent camp.

But Polish police said a group of several hundred migrants tried in vain to overcome border fortifications near the village of Starzyna. At point Polish forces were pelted with rocks.

It remains impossible to independently verify any of the information, as both Belarusian and Polish officials are keeping journalists and aid groups far away from the border.

The Czech Republic on Monday offered to send help to Poland, saying its neighbour had been the victim of “an attack” by Lukashenko.

Belarusian officials suggested they were willing to work to send the migrants back home – a plan that, if credible, could calm the crisis with the EU but enrage people unwilling to return to the war zones they left.

“We are actively working on convincing these people to head home,” claimed Lukashenko in comments to the Belta news agency, before his conversation with Merkel.

“Nobody wants to go back,” he told Belta. “These people are very stubborn.”

Iraq says it is organizing a flight on Thursday to repatriate citizens on the Poland-Belarus border who wish to return to their country.

The government is aware of around 750 Iraqis stuck at the border and are living in difficult weather conditions, but there are more in forest areas at the border and it is difficult to reach them without the help of international organizations, al-Sahaf said.

Iraq suspended regular flights to Belarus few months ago. It also suspended the work of the Belarusian consul in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil in order to stop the issuance of visas, he added.

EU foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss the situation rattling the 27-member bloc’s external border.

They agreed on Monday to pave the way for airline sanctions over the crisis. They added new criteria to the restrictive measures against Belarus that would allow them to punish those who “facilitate illegal crossing of the EU’s external borders,” according to an official press release. No new entities were immediately added to the sanctions list.

Warsaw said Monday it would soon begin hardening its border.

Interior Minister Mariusz said Poland plans to start construction this year on a permanent barrier with Belarus.

Kaminski tweeted that the construction, once it begins, will focus at first on four sections, with the building taking place around the clock.

Poland has already put up a temporary fence along the border to keep migrants from illegally entering the country. It is made out of barbed wire and stands around 2.5 metres tall.

This is to be replaced by a permanent barrier standing 5.5 metres high and equipped with with motion detectors and cameras.

The Polish government calls the fortification a “barrier” or “barricade” – noticeably avoiding the word “wall.”