The European Union (EU) has approved in a meeting held on Monday a set of new sanctions against Belarus. The new sanctions came over the ongoing migrant crisis on Poland borders.
The EU has accused Belarus of driving a crisis that has left thousands of migrants stranded in freezing forests.
The sanctions aimed to stop Belarus’ attempts to push migrants towards it in revenge for earlier sanctions.
However, Belarus has rejected the allegations.
The move came as the Belarus-Poland border crisis escalates, with thousands of migrants and refugees stranded near the frontier, hoping to enter the EU.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people are now living in a tent camp on the Belarus-Poland border in near-freezing temperatures. Poland, which has established a state of emergency in the border region enforced by hundreds of troops, refuses to allow them in.
However, the incident has led to international condemnation from the EU, US and NATO and renewed threats of sanctions.
Poland and other EU states accuse Belarus of encouraging the migrants and refugees to cross in revenge for Western sanctions on Minsk over President Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent after last year’s disputed election.
Poland has earlier deployed 3,000 more soldiers to strengthen the border as tension mount between the two countries
More than 2,000 asylum seekers and refugees remained on Poland-Belarus borders for several weeks. This came after Polish authorities refused to let them in.
Their numbers have unprecedentedly risen over the past few weeks amid tension between Belarus and Poland.
