European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told members of the European Parliament, Tuesday, that the Commission is coordinating with the United States, Canada and Britain to impose sanctions on Belarus, while Poland stressed that the worst has not yet begun in the refugee crisis on the Belarus border.

Der Leyen added that the commission would set up a "blacklist" aimed at punishing transport and travel companies involved in smuggling migrants to Belarus.

"The migrants who have flocked to Belarus in recent weeks, of Middle Eastern origin, are being deceived by false and shameful promises," she said.

About two thousand asylum seekers continue to wait in a logistics center on the Belarusian-Polish border, in difficult conditions, in the hope of crossing to Europe.

Brussels accuses the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, who has run Belarus with an iron hand since 1994, of orchestrating the arrival of thousands of migrants to his country since the summer before transferring them to the eastern borders of the European Union with the aim of retaliating due to Western sanctions.

The European Union announced on the 15th of this month that it will adapt its legal system in order to impose sanctions on persons and organizations that cooperate with Lukashenko's regime by flooding the borders of Poland and Lithuania with thousands of refugees.

Polish concerns

In the context, Poland said on Tuesday that groups of refugees made new attempts to cross the border from Belarus, adding that it was too early to say that the worst is over in the crisis on the eastern border of the European Union.

Border Police spokeswoman Anna Michalska said about 50 refugees tried to cross on Monday evening, and 18 of them managed to cross the barbed wire barrier for a short period.

At another location, another group gathered about the same number but eventually gave up trying to cross.

Authorities in Warsaw stressed that continued attempts at the border showed that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had not abandoned his plans to use thousands of migrants fleeing the Middle East and other hotspots as a weapon in the crisis with the European Union.

"Plans and tactics are changing and the new wave may be less exciting ... But this does not mean that the situation is calming down," Stanisław Zarin, a spokesman for the Polish special forces, told a news conference.

"There are repeated attempts to cross the border, and they will continue," he added.

He added that Polish authorities estimate that around 10,000 or more migrants may remain in Belarus, raising the possibility of more problems.


voluntary return

On the other hand, the Belarusian Ministry of the Interior said that 118 asylum-seekers voluntarily left the capital, Minsk, on Monday, via regular flights to their countries.

The head of the Immigration and Nationality Department of the Ministry, Alexey, confirmed that the process of voluntary return of refugees to their countries continues on a daily basis, and that the Belarusian authorities provide them with all facilities to complete the departure procedures.

In turn, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) closed a few days ago another channel of communication with Belarus, adding that practical cooperation between Minsk and NATO was suspended at the initiative of the alliance.

The ministry expressed its concern about the intensification of what it described as the blatant militarization of NATO in the countries neighboring Belarus.

For his part, the Belarusian Chief of Staff Viktor Golevich said that in addition to increasing Poland's military capabilities, the same approach is followed by the Baltic countries, which raises his country's concern.