After an emergency meeting behind closed doors, Western members of the Security Council deplored Thursday a “destabilization of the EU’s external border”.
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Diplomatic escalation between Belarus and the EU. European and American members of the UN Security Council on Thursday, November 11, condemned a “orchestrated instrumentalization of human beings” by Minsk on the border with Poland in order to “destabilize the external border of the European Union”. They believe that Belarus’ goal is also “to destabilize neighboring countries” and “to distract from its own growing human rights violations”.
>> We explain to you why the situation is explosive on the border between Poland and Belarus
A few thousand migrants, mainly from the Middle East, are stranded in difficult conditions at the border between Belarus and Poland. In a joint statement issued after an emergency meeting of the Security Council, Estonia, France, Ireland, the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom denounced a “unacceptable tactic” who “calls for a strong international response and cooperation to hold them to account” to Belarus. However, the signatories did not mention concrete measures.
In response to possible sanctions, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to suspend the operation of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline which crosses the country and delivers Russian gas to Europeans. Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya compared the threat to “bluff”, that she would not take “not seriously”, because of Russian interests which could be jeopardized in the event of suspension.