A man tries to dislocate the fence as migrants attempt to cross into Poland at the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing on the Belarusian-Polish border on November 16, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says his country does not seek confrontation with neighboring Poland over the recent migrant crisis, but expects the European Union to take responsibility for the fate of 2,000 asylum-seekers stranded on its border.

Lukashenko was cited by the state-owned Belta news agency as saying on Monday that he did not want things to escalate between Minsk and Warsaw over the migrant crisis on their border after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned tensions over the trapped people could flare up.

We need to get through to the Poles, to every Pole, and show them that we’re not barbarians, that we don’t want confrontation. We don’t need it. Because we understand that if we go too far, war is unavoidable, Lukashenko said. And that will be a catastrophe. We understand this perfectly well. We don’t want any kind of flare-up.

The Polish premier warned on Sunday that the migrant crisis on the Belarus border may be a prelude to something much worse, with Poland’s border guard claiming that Belarusian forces were still ferrying migrants to the frontier.

Warsaw has threatened to cut a train link between the two countries if the situation does not improve.

Tensions have been mounting in eastern Europe in recent weeks after the European Union accused Belarus of triggering a migrant crisis on its border by flying in thousands of asylum-seekers and pushing them to try to cross into Poland, an accusation Minsk has adamantly dismissed.

As a result of the crisis, thousands of migrants have been stranded in freezing temperatures at Belarus’ border with Poland as the latter has closed the frontier and prevented them from crossing over. The migrants, mostly from West Asia, Afghanistan, and Africa, are trying to enter the EU.

Poland has also sent armored vehicles and troops to the border amid an escalation of the crisis, with Lukashenko accusing Warsaw of blackmailing his country with the military build-up on the frontier.

Countries bordering Belarus have warned that the migrant crisis could escalate into a military confrontation.

Belarus leader says EU refusing to discuss migrants

Lukashenko was cited by Belta as saying on Monday that he must insist the EU take in migrants, also complaining that Brussels was not making contact with Minsk on the issue.

I am waiting for the EU to respond on the issue of 2,000 refugees, Lukashenko said, adding that Minsk expected Europe to let the migrants in.

They said, (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel promised me that they will consider this problem at the level of the European Union. But they are not doing it, he was quoted by state news agency Belta as saying.

His remarks came after on November 18, the European Commission and Germany publicly rejected a Belarus proposal made on the same day that EU countries take in 2,000 of the migrants currently on its territory.

Lukashenko said European officials refused any contact on the subject despite calls from the Belarusian foreign minister, stressing, We should demand that the Germans take them in.

Lukashenko said Belarus plans to send some 5,000 migrants back home and that it was preparing a second flight to send migrants home at the end of the month after more than 400 Iraqis were sent back last week, in the first such repatriation flight since August.