The Kremlin said Russia is trying to resolve the situation. The EU is reportedly preparing sanctions against a Russian airline over the transportation of migrants to Belarus.
The Kremlin rejected allegations that Russia was behind the arrival of migrants who are stuck at the European Union external border with Belarus.
Poland had accused Russia of being the “mastermind” behind pushing migrants to Poland’s border with Belarus. The European Union has described it as a “hybrid attack” on its border.
In retaliation, the European Commission is seeking sanctions against Belarusian authorities, as well as airlines that carry the migrants to Belarus. Some media reports, citing EU officials, have suggested that the EU sanctions could target Russian state flag carrier Aeroflot.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskovsaid Russia had nothing to do with the crisis.
“Russia — like other countries — is trying to get involved in resolving the situation,” he told reporters.
Omid Nouripour, foreign policy spokesman for the German Greens, disagreed, telling it was “the people around Lukashenko himself and the Kremlin” ultimately orchestrating the border standoff.
“It needs a dire answer because they are producing a dire situation for people and the humanitarian crisis at the borders of the European Union. It needs not only a humanitarian answer but also a political one, saying that we won’t accept it,” Nouripour said.
Putin’s spokesman Peskov also called reports of possible sanctions against Aeroflot “crazy.”
At an emergency parliament session, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pointed fingers toward Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s key ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“This attack which Lukashenko is conducting has its mastermind in Moscow, the mastermind is President Putin,” Morawiecki told lawmakers.
Tensions escalate
With hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants stuck on the Belarusian border with Poland, Polish forces have heavily increased security in the area.
For the second day in a row, Russia sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers on a training mission over Belarus. According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers practiced bombing runs at the Ruzhansky firing range in Belarus.