Live Updates: Polish Border Guards Expecting Migrants to Storm Belarus Border at Night

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation on Monday, the main topic of which was the crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, a source at the Elysee Palace told reporters.

"The President of the Republic held a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, it lasted one hour 45 minutes. The main topic of the conversation was Belarus. ... The parties discussed the migrant crisis and threats from Belarus to block gas supplies to Europe," the source said.

Macron expressed solidarity with Poland in the situation with migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border and willingness to help if necessary, he said.

According to the source, Putin, speaking of Minsk's threats to cut off gas supplies to Europe, admitted that this would be bad for Gazprom and Russia.

Macron and Putin agreed on the need to de-escalate the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, the source said.

The parties also agreed that gas could not become hostage to the crisis with migrants, as well as underlined the need to strengthen humanitarian assistance.

According to the source, Putin told the French president that he understood the need to end the migrant crisis.

The Polish Border Guard expect an assault on the border from Belarus at night, the guard's spokeswoman, Anna Michalska, said on Monday.

"We expect that it will come to an assault, an attempt to cross the border. We can expect that this night can be hot," Michalska said on air of the Polish television.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a phone conversation, the Pul Pervogo Telegram channel, close to the press service of the Belarusian leader, said on Monday.

The publication does not report the details of the conversation, promises to do so later.

The EU has never pointed to Aeroflot in connection with the migration problem at the borders of the EU and Belarus, European Commission spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said.

EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Monday approved the criteria for imposing sanctions against those who facilitate illegal migration from Belarus to the EU. As previously explained by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, these sanctions may affect airlines or travel agencies. Earlier, at a briefing in Brussels, De Keersmaecker said that the EU was in contact with a number of airlines, which, according to the union, could carry illegal immigrants. There are no Russian carriers among them.

"We never singled out Aeroflot, nor any other airline and Russia is among the countries we monitor for a potential or tendencies to be misused in the instrumentalisation of migrants by the Lukashenko regime," De Keersmaecker said.

However, he declined to comment on possible sanctions lists.

"On sanctions, we never comment publically about possible or ongoing discussions regarding specific listings," the spokesman recalled.

Igor Cherginets, the general director of Belarusian airline Belavia, said that the statements about the arrival of illegal migrants on the company's flights via Moscow to Minsk did not correspond to reality.

Earlier, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that Russia was linked to the migration crisis around Belarus, alleging that undocumented migrants come to Minsk via Moscow.

"The statements that the flow of illegal migrants flies through Moscow to Minsk do not correspond to reality," Cherginets told state-run agency Belta.

According to the company's head, there are five flights of Belavia from Moscow to Minsk from two airports, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo.

"I thoroughly checked: on all flights from Moscow there are about 10 people with passports not of Belarus or Russia. Among them there are representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan. And there is only one Iraqi citizen, with a diplomatic passport," Cherginets said.

The Polish Interior Ministry claims that the Belarusian security forces did not allow migrants to return from the border area inside the country.

"The Belarusian services all the time control the persons who were brought to the border crossing, at the same time preventing them from returning deep into Belarus," the ministry said on Twitter.

EU foreign ministers agreed to expand the score of sanctions against Belarus, the document will be finalized in the coming days, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

"We agreed to expand the scope of the sanctions regime on Belarus," Borrell said at a press conference after the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

"At the same time we agreed to adopt a new package on sanctions which will be finalized in the coming days it will affect a number of people and entities," he added.

The foreign ministers of the EU countries have agreed on the criteria for inclusion in the sanctions lists of persons responsible for transporting migrants to the Belarus-EU borders, Acting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.

"We have agreed on a new list of criteria. We will take full advantage of them so that everyone involved in smuggling conducted by Lukashenko is included in the sanctions lists. This is just the beginning," Maas said after the meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

He noted that the EU would also continue to work with countries from where migrants enter Belarus, such as Turkey, Iraq, and continue to increase pressure on the airlines involved. According to him, they are threatened with bans on the use of EU airspace and airports.

The State Border Committee of Belarus considered the EU statements about the organization of illegal migration in Minsk strange, noting that since 1 August 8,000 foreigners have been denied entry into the country.

"It is very strange to hear accusations from the European Union of organizing migration flows by the Belarusian authorities against the background of obvious figures: since August 1 of this year, in just two and a half months, about 8,000 people have not been allowed into Belarus," the ministry said.

It emphasized that about 5,000 more foreigners who had entered Belarus legally during this period then had left the country as a result of measures taken to prevent violations of migration legislation.

"But these are potential migrants. And these are concrete, documented facts," the border committee said.

The National Bank of Poland said on Monday it will urgently issue a collectible coin and banknote, themed "Protection of the Polish eastern border," to commemorate the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border.

"There will be a new coin and a new banknote 'Protection of the Polish eastern border.' The President of the National Bank, Professor Adam Glapinski, decided to issue the collectible coin and the banknote dedicated to the protection of the Polish eastern border on an expedited basis," the bank said in a statement.

No information on the denomination of the coin or the note was provided.

The leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia called for bringing the authorities of Belarus to responsibility against the background of the migration crisis.

"[We] are concerned for the human rights and safety of the migrants currently in Belarus, who are being forced to breach the European Union border, and urge to hold the Lukashenko regime accountable for human trafficking," the joint statement says.

The three presidents called for concrete actions by the UN structures responsible for human rights, refugees and migrants.

"The ongoing serious situation was addressed and assessed by the UN Security Council, and we call for concrete actions by UNHRC, UNHCR and IOM," they said.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia fully support Poland's actions to protect the borders and condemn the Belarusian government's actions, the three countries said.

The presidents of the three countries also expressed support for European countries, institutions and institutions in connection with the current crisis and called on the leaders of the EU and NATO countries to step up diplomatic efforts in the countries of origin of illegal migration.

Since July, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have reported an increase in the number of illegal migrants arriving at the border with Belarus and accused Minsk of using the migration crisis at the EU border to take revenge on the EU for sanctions over alleged violations of human rights in Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that his country would not prevent the movement of migrants toward the EU anymore, as it has neither money nor resources due to the sanctions.

In September, Poland declared a state of emergency in the regions bordering Belarus. To bolster security, the Polish authorities sent military personnel and the police to the border. Barbed wire fences are being erected at various sites.

Last week, over 2,000 refugees were stranded at the Belarusian-Polish border, including many women and children.

RT France journalists, correspondent David Khalifa and cameraman Jordi Demory, were taken to the court of the Polish city of Sokolka, a police spokesman for Podlaskie Voivodeship said.

Earlier, Khalifa and Demory were detained at the Polish-Belarusian border. The police of the Podlaskie Voivodeship said that they had detained the RT France film crew for allegedly illegal presence in the emergency zone.

"They were recently sent to a court that will decide on their case," a police spokesman said.

Earlier, the editor-in-chief of RT France, Ksenia Fedorova, expressed hope that the detention of the film crew was not related to the fact that the journalists work for RT, adding that they arrived at the border with relevant IDs. Fedorova also said that journalists might not have known about the three-kilometer emergency zone at the border.

Some 3,500 migrants have gathered at the closed Kuznica checkpoint at the Polish-Belarusian border, a spokesman for Poland's special services, Stanislaw Zaryn, said on Monday.

"The massive influx of migrants towards the closed Polish border crossing point is an effect of rumours being spread recently. The rumours about the possibility of entering Poland’s territory have been authenticated by the Belarusian services," Zaryn tweeted, adding that approximately 3,500 migrants have gathered at Kuznica.

The European Union must ensure that planes transporting migrants do not have the opportunity to land in Belarus, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Monday.

"We need to make sure that no planes with people with the intention to migrate should land in Belarusian airports," he told a briefing ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

The second priority is to address the humanitarian situation inside Belarus, which currently hosts some 10,000-20,000 migrants, Landsbergis added. To help migrants at the border return home, the EU needs to work more actively together with intentional organizations, such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania have accused neighboring Belarus of facilitating the movement of migrants to the EU to get back at Brussels for sanctions and urged for more preventive measures against Minsk. The latter rejects the accusations, and maintains that it is unable to tackle the transit of migrants while struggling under the weight of Western sanctions.

The situation on the border between Poland and Belarus has escalated over the past few weeks as thousands of migrants have been stranded on the Belarusian side trying to enter the EU. Poland has declared a state of emergency and boosted security in the area, while migrants have set up camps.

The German top diplomat said he will lobby for the tightening of sanctions against Belarus among his EU counterparts.

"Lukashenko demands from us that we lift all sanctions. We will give our answer today - we will tighten the sanctions. We will also impose sanctions against individuals involved in this smuggling [of migrants]. We will talk about the fact that tough economic sanctions are inevitable," Maas said.

When asked whether the imposition of sanctions against Belarus is counterproductive in conditions when it may be necessary to send humanitarian missions to the country to help migrants, Maas said that based on the behaviour of the Belarusian authorities, the EU has no reason to lift the sanctions.

"This was the case before. The sanctions were imposed because of the Belarusian government's attitude toward its own people, and nothing has changed here, so there is no reason to deviate from the sanctions that we have adopted," Maas added.

The German embassy in Minsk is in contact with Belarusian authorities, including to discuss the migration crisis, Foreign Ministry spokesman Christopher Burger said on Monday.

"Our embassy in Minsk is in conflict with the government of Belarus. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also contacts the Belarusian Embassy in Berlin, if necessary," Burger told a briefing.

The EU should consider sanctions on Minsk airport and ground services, the foreign minister added.

Migrants got over barbed wire set by Belarusian border guards at a checkpoint near Poland on Monday, the Belarusian media reported.

According to the state-run Belta news agency, migrants do now show aggression and hope that the situation will be resolved peacefully.

The EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Monday approved the criteria for imposing sanctions against those who facilitate illegal migration from Belarus to the EU, a source in the European Union said.

The EU source confirmed to Sputnik that the ministers have agreed on the criteria for imposing new sanctions.

At the same time, the source did not say when a new sanctions list over the Belarus migration issue will be released.

The European Council said on Monday that it broadened the sanctions against Minsk to respond to the migration crisis at the Belarusian border and alleged using migrants for political purposes.

The European Union expands the criteria of specific designations and can now target all Belarusian individuals and entities that contribute to illegal crossing of the EU's border from the post-soviet country.

"Today's decision reflects the determination by the European Union to stand up to the instrumentalisation of migrants for political purposes. We are pushing back on this inhuman and illegal practice. At the same time, we continue to underline the unacceptable ongoing repression by the regime against its own population at home, and we will respond accordingly," the High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, said, as quoted by the council.

It is wrong to put all the blame for the migration crisis on the border between the European Union and Belarus on President Alexander Lukashenko, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"The situation unfolding on the border is also not created by Lukashenko. As the President himself said, the migrants do arrive using a visa-free regime, migrants who want to get asylum in Europe, but are refused and not allowed there. They are not being let in, but people who fly there, they know very well that migrants were accepted from other countries... So, it is completely wrong to place all the blame for the situation at the border on President Lukashenko and on the Belarusian side," Peskov said.

Claims made by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko aims to divert attention from Russia's actions on the border with Ukraine are fundamentally wrong, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We consider this statement incorrect. This is a wrong interpretation of the situation with the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border... The statement is fundamentally wrong, and we do not agree with it," Peskov told reporters.

On Sunday, the US State Department said that Blinken, in a conversation with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau, called the illegal migration crisis in Belarus and Minsk's actions a tool "to distract from Russia’s activities on the border with Ukraine."

Russia acts as a negotiator in solving the EU-Belarus migration crisis, and President Vladimir Putin hopes that Minsk and Brussels will start direct communications, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"In this case, only as a negotiating mediator, which is partly the case … President Putin expressed the hope that direct contacts will take place," Peskov told reporters.

The Kremlin spokesman also mentioned that no one is not planning to remember "European values" when it comes to the fate of thousands of refugees.

Belavia did not transport illegal migrants in past and is not planning to start doing it in the future, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said on Monday.

"We have repeatedly and at different levels stated quite clearly: the national air carrier OJSC Belavia has never transported, is not transporting and will not transport refugees or illegal migrants," Glaz said.

Poland fears armed provocations at the state border with Belarus, Jakub Kumoch, the head of the presidency’s International Policy Bureau, said on Monday.

"We must be ready for anything. The people on the border, the soldiers, all the time, every day, every night, face provocations. We have seen the use of the laser, we know that there are snipers. Our people are ready for various options for the development of the situation. We are, of course, afraid of an armed provocation," Kumoch told Polskie Radio Program III.

Belarus does not desire any conflicts on its borders, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday.

"I want to emphasize once again: we do not want any conflict on our state border. This is absolutely troublesome for us," Lukashenko said, as quoted by the state-run Belta news agency.

The Belarusian leader also said that Minsk is ready to send "refugees" home but they do not wish to return to their countries, according to Belta.