The West condemned Thursday, November 11 at the UN an "orchestrated instrumentalisation of human beings" by Belarus on the border with Poland in order to "destabilize the external border of the European Union", and called for an "international reaction strong "despite the earlier call for dialogue by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A few thousand migrants, mainly from the Middle East, are stranded in difficult conditions at the border between Belarus and Poland.

The Europeans accuse Minsk of fueling the crisis by issuing visas and chartering flights in revenge for Western sanctions imposed on the regime of Alexander Lukashenko last year after the brutal repression of opponents.

In a joint statement issued after an emergency meeting of the Security Council, Estonia, France, Ireland, the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom estimated Thursday evening that the Belarus' goal was also to "destabilize neighboring countries" and "distract from its own growing human rights violations".

>> To read also: "Belarus: how migrants found themselves trapped at the gates of Europe"

"This tactic is unacceptable and calls for a strong international reaction and cooperation in order to hold Belarus to account," the signatories stressed, without however mentioning concrete measures.

Earlier, during a telephone interview with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the second in two days, Vladimir Putin had estimated that the resolution of this "serious migratory crisis" required the "reestablishment of contacts between the countries of the EU and Belarus ", according to a statement from the Kremlin.

But, at the end of patience, Berlin judged Thursday that it was "high time to draw the consequences" of this crisis by strengthening the sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

Measures are expected early next week, according to Brussels.

Threat on gas

With Russian support, Alexander Lukashenko threatened Thursday to respond to possible sanctions by shutting the valves of a major gas pipeline supplying Europe, at a time when the continent is already facing shortages.

"What would happen if we cut the natural gas going there?" Said the man who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994.

But in an exclusive interview with AFP, its main opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, who lives in exile, estimated that Alexander Lukashenko "was bluffing", calling on the EU not to dialogue with this "illegitimate" leader.

Brussels accuses Minsk of having put in place logistics to attract and transport migrants to the Polish border, with the promise of easy access to the Schengen area.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who accused Alexander Lukashenko's regime of "state terrorism", said Thursday that his country was the target of a "new kind of war" with civilians being used as "ammunition".

Migrants caught in a stranglehold

Warsaw further claims Belarusian security forces are firing shots into the air to force migrants to advance.

Minsk in turn argues that Polish border guards violate international standards by pushing them back with violence.

Caught in a stranglehold, many migrants, including children and women, are stuck in the wooded border area.

>> To read also: "Migration crisis: Vladimir Putin calls on the EU to re-establish contact with Belarus"

This is particularly the case for more than 2,000 people, including Kurds, who have been stranded for several days in a makeshift camp, where they warm themselves by burning wood to withstand temperatures close to 0 ° C.

"Emergency humanitarian aid", including blankets, warm clothes and diapers, was delivered to them on Thursday, said a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, ten migrants have died in the border area since the start of this crisis.

Faced with this influx, Poland deployed 15,000 troops, erected a fence topped with barbed wire and approved the construction of a border wall.

Warsaw has recorded more than 32,000 intrusion attempts on its territory since August, including 17,300 in October.

In Sokolka, a Polish town located about fifteen kilometers from the border, the authorities were on the alert, stopping vehicles to check that they were not carrying migrants, AFP noted on Wednesday.

Several residents of this city have expressed their concern and expressed their support for the firmness of their authorities.

"I am afraid that migrants will manage to pass, and the consequences that this could have," said Henryk Lenkiewicz, a 67-year-old pensioner.

Fearing to be drawn into the crisis, Ukraine, a country neighboring Belarus, announced Thursday the deployment of 8,500 additional soldiers at the border.

With AFP

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