Belarus threatens to cut off Europe’s gas as border crisis worsens

‘We are heating Europe, and they are threatening to close the border. What if we cut gas to them?’

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO yesterday threatened to cut gas supplies to Europe, as a crisis on Belarus’s border with Poland escalated with hundreds more migrants arriving in Minsk to be transported to the EU frontier.

The Belarusian president promised a harsh response after Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said there would be further sanctions against his regime. “We are heating Europe, and they are threatening to close the border,” he said.

“What if we cut gas to them? Therefore I recommend that the leaders of Poland, Lithuania and others who have lost their heads think before speaking. We should not stop at anything to defend our sovereignty and independence.”

His warning came as thousands of migrants were last night stranded along the Polish border in freezing conditions, with hundreds more arriving in Minsk hoping to reach the EU.

Mr Lukashenko has aided their passage in what has been termed “hybrid warfare” against the bloc. Warsaw has accused Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, of orchestrating the crisis.

Tens of thousands of far-right demonstrators marched through the Polish capital yesterday, as ministers said they were braced for imminent “attacks” on the country’s border with Belarus.

The Polish government has sent 15,000 troops to the frontier and closed a key border crossing in response to the crisis. “As perceived by the other side … since we have to act on almost two fronts – to secure both the Independence March and the border – it could mean that we’ll be weak somewhere,” said Bartosz Grodecki, the deputy interior minister.

Videos posted on social media showed large crowds gathering in the Belarusian capital with sleeping bags and backpacks, despite a ban on public gatherings introduced to quash opposition to the Lukashenko regime.

Tens of thousands of migrants have arrived in Belarus by air from countries including Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

“Lukashenko is responsible for this suffering. He abuses people to put the EU under pressure,” said Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister.

Mrs Von der Leyen has said the EU will widen its sanctions on the Belarusian regime, accusing Minsk of a “cynical geopolitical powerplay” in fuelling the migration crisis.

The bloc is expected to sanction up to 30 Belarusian officials and entities linked to the Lukashenko regime, including Belavia, the country’s national air carrier.

Sanctions could also target Belarus’s main airport in an attempt to make it more difficult for airlines to bring migrants and refugees to Minsk.

The measures, due to be finalised next week, could stop EU firms supplying Minsk National Airport, two European diplomats said. Poland has called on Brussels to target Aeroflot, the Russian state airline, over allegations that it is also involved in transporting migrants to Belarus.

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, denied that the air carrier had played any part in the crisis, despite Moscow publicly supporting Belarus in recent days.

With the Kremlin’s growing involvement in the crisis, EU nations have warned of the prospect of military confrontation.

In a joint statement, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia called the situation “the most complex security crisis for our region, Nato and the EU in many years”.