MOSCOW — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened Thursday to cut gas supplies to Europe if the European Union introduces new sanctions on Belarusian officials and entities, in a sharp escalation of tensions over a migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border.
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European leaders blame Lukashenko for orchestrating the crisis in retaliation for European sanctions. They accuse him of opening Belarusian borders to migrants, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, who are trying to reach Europe through Belarus.
But they also face a mounting energy crisis, after gas prices soared due to low stocks in Europe, lower-than-expected wind power generation, increased demand in Asia and Russian reluctance to help bridge the shortfall.
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The migrant crisis has become a worrying flash point for tensions between Europe and Belarus, which is backed by its close ally Russia. Poland has deployed thousands of troops along the border, and Russia sent two long-range strategic bombers Wednesday to patrol the Belarusian border with Europe.
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Lukashenko met his Council of Ministers and ordered a tough response to Wednesday’s announcement by European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen of planned new sanctions on Belarus.
“We are heating Europe. They still threaten us that they will close the border. And if we shut off natural gas there?” he said.
“The Foreign Ministry must warn everyone in Europe: If they impose additional sanctions on us, that would be indigestible and unacceptable for us. We must answer,” he said in comments reported by the BelTA state news agency.
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Lukashenko told Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko that if Europe imposes new sanctions, “you must not forgive them anything.”
Migrants trapped in Poland-Belarus standoff: What to know
Europe relies on Russia for most of its gas supplies through pipelines such as Nord Stream 1 via the Baltic Sea, TurkStream and Blue Stream via Turkey and the Yamal-Europe pipeline via Belarus and Poland to Germany.
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A controversial new pipeline Nord Stream 2, opposed by Ukraine and criticized by the United States, is undergoing a regulatory approval process in Germany, with Russia pressing Europe to speed the process.
Von der Leyen accused Belarus of trying to destabilize European democracies in comments to journalists Wednesday after meeting President Biden in Washington. She added that the United States would impose new sanctions in early December.
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The migrant crisis on the Belarusian border with Poland came to a head Monday when a large column of migrants, including many women and children, walked to the border to try to cross, only to be stranded in freezing conditions in a forest next to the razor-wire border fence.
Polish officials declared that the migrants would not enter Poland and deployed 12,000 troops along the border. Belarusian border guards prevented people from trying to go back into Belarus, according to local media.
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The migrant crisis on Belarusian borders with Europe has been brewing since June, when Lukashenko announced he would stop the policing of his country’s borders in retaliation for tough sanctions announced by the European Union on June 2, the fourth package since Oct. 2.
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The E.U. has ratcheted up sanctions pressure over the “fraudulent nature” of a presidential election in August 2020; regime “brutality” against peaceful protests, journalists and activists; and the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in May to arrest independent Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
As Belarus border crisis deepens, Europe and U.S. on course for more sanctions
In isolated Belarus, everything is being weaponized to keep Lukashenko in power. That includes migrants.
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