A European Commission spokesman was on Thursday quoted as saying that the EU could move to introduce new sanctions if the situation in Belarus, which the bloc accuses of pushing asylum seekers across its borders, continued to deteriorate.
"Where necessary, the EU will continue to support the member states affected by the actions of the Lukashenko regime," the spokesman, Peter Stano, said, as quoted by Polish state news agency PAP.
Poland and Lithuania, which are members of the European Union, have seen a sharp increase in the number of migrants from countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq trying to enter their countries from Belarus.
The EU has accused Minsk of using the migrants as a tool to put pressure on the bloc over sanctions it imposed on Belarus after a disputed presidential election, a charge that Minsk has denied, the Reuters news agency reported.
Lithuania, facing a surge in illegal border crossings from Belarus, this week said it would ask other EU countries to approve tougher rules on migration.
(gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters