Russia took the rare step of dispatching two nuclear-capable strategic bombers to patrol Belarusian airspace on Wednesday in a show of support to close ally Belarus at a time when it is locked in a migrant standoff with the European Union.
Moscow’s decision to up the ante came as the 27-nation bloc considered sanctions on Wednesday to punish Minsk for what it calls an artificially created crisis, something Belarus denies.
Migrants trapped in Belarus made multiple attempts to force their way into Poland overnight, Warsaw said on Wednesday, announcing that it had reinforced the border with extra guards.
United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on states to deescalate and resolve the “intolerable” crisis.
“These hundreds of men, women and children must not be forced to spend another night in freezing weather without adequate shelter, food, water and medical care,” she said.
The EU, which has repeatedly sanctioned Belarus for human rights abuses, accuses Minsk of drawing in migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa and then pushing them to cross into Poland to try to sow violent chaos on the bloc’s eastern flank.
The bloc’s 27 ambassadors agreed on Wednesday that this amounts to “hybrid warfare” by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko – a legal basis for new sanctions.
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“We are facing a brutal hybrid attack on our EU borders. Belarus is weaponizing migrants’ distress in a cynical and shocking way,” EU Council President Charles Michel said.
Belarus and its ally Russia have placed the blame on Europe, with the Kremlin accusing it of failing to live up to its own humanitarian ideals and trying to “strangle” Belarus with plans to close part of the frontier. It said it was unacceptable for the EU to impose sanctions on Belarus over the crisis.
The Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers that Russia sent to overfly Belarus are capable of carrying nuclear missiles, including hypersonic ones of the kind designed to evade sophisticated Western air defences.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped responsible Europeans would “not allow themselves to be drawn into a spiral that is fairly dangerous”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Putin to put pressure on Belarus over the situation at the border, a German government spokesperson said. The Kremlin said Putin told her the EU should talk directly to Belarus.
