WARSAW, Poland -- European Union officials accused Belarus on Wednesday of state-sponsored "trafficking" of human lives by luring desperate migrants to the Polish border -- the edge of the EU -- where many are now stuck in makeshift camps in freezing weather.
As the crisis showed no sign of easing, an EU leader also said the bloc was, for the first time, considering the idea of funding the construction of a wall or some other barrier on its eastern border. That idea has always been rejected before and still faces many political and humanitarian obstacles.
Polish authorities estimate that about 3,000-4,000 migrants have gathered along its border with Belarus, with hundreds concentrated in one makeshift camp not far from the Kuznica crossing. Warsaw has bolstered security at the frontier, where it has declared a state of emergency.
The West has accused Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging migrants from the Middle East to travel to his country and sending them toward EU members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia as a way to retaliate against the bloc for sanctions imposed on the authoritarian regime for its crackdown on internal dissent since a disputed election in 2020.
Belarus denies the allegations, but has said it will no longer stop migrants and others seeking to enter the EU.
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"From a distance, these events on the Polish-Belarusian border may look like a migration crisis, but this is not a migration crisis, it is a political crisis triggered with the special purpose of destabilizing the situation in the European Union," said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Minsk is engaged in "state-run smuggling and trafficking ... happening 100% at the expense of the people who are lured into the country with false promises."
Poland says Russia bears some responsibility for the crisis, given its staunch backing of Lukashenko. Germany's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, also accused Lukashenko of "using people's fates -- with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin -- to destabilize the West."
"The Belarusian regime's exploitation of migrants against the European Union is inhumane and completely unacceptable," Merkel told Putin in a phone call on Wednesday, her spokesman said.
The Russian leader told Merkel that the EU should discuss the issue with Lukashenko, according to a Kremlin readout. Putin and Merkel are scheduled to speak again soon, according to an EU official.
"They are victims of an inhuman policy and something must be done against this," Merkel said in Meseberg, near Berlin. Speaking ahead of a meeting with Latvian and Portuguese leaders, Merkel thanked Poland, Lithuania and Latvia for protecting the EU's external borders.
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Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins added that "it is what I would call a state-sponsored human trafficking, which is affecting directly my country, Lithuania and Poland."
The Kremlin's account of the call with Merkel said Putin proposed a discussion between "representatives of EU member states and Minsk." It also said Putin and Merkel "agreed to continue the conversation."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected suggestions by Morawiecki that Moscow has any responsibility in the crisis, calling them "absolutely irresponsible and unacceptable." Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also has suggested the EU give Belarus financial aid to stop the migrant flow.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after meeting with President Joe Biden, said Wednesday that the EU and the U.S. are preparing to penalize the regime for orchestrating a "hybrid attack" on the bloc.
Von der Leyen said afterward they shared the assessment that "this is an attempt by an authoritarian regime to try to destabilize democratic neighbors. This will not succeed."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met in Washington with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, said "the idea that Belarus would weaponize migration is profoundly objectionable."
"We will continue to pressure Lukashenko and the regime, and we will not lessen our calls for accountability," he added. Kuleba said Belarus "is a potential front line that should not be underestimated."
EU ambassadors are expected on Wednesday to approve adding the criteria of aiding and abetting people trafficking as grounds for additional sanctions on Belarus, according to an official familiar with the plans.
The bloc is discussing targeting airlines including Russia's Aeroflot and Turkish Airlines in the new package, the official said. New penalties could be announced -- jointly with the U.S. and possibly the U.K. -- early next month, the person said.
"We will widen our sanctions against Belarus, so very rapidly at the beginning of next week, there will be a widening of the sanctions against elements," von der Leyen said. "As far as I'm informed, the United States have prepared sanctions that will be in effect at the beginning of December."
Now, it is facing pressure by several member countries to do so, as Poland and Lithuania have already moved ahead with plans to build high barriers of steel and razor wire.
Security on the Polish border has been reinforced, with about 15,000 soldiers deployed there along with border guards and police. Poland's Defense Ministry and police reported that groups of migrants tried to enter the country late Tuesday and early Wednesday but that all who made it in were detained.
It also accused Belarusian forces of firing shots into the air in a border area where migrants caught between the countries have set up a camp. Belarus has accused Polish forces of firing in the air.
Caught in the geopolitical standoff are thousands of migrants, including children, who have been pushed back and forth in a forested area of swamps and bogs. Eight deaths have been confirmed, and the situation gets more dangerous as temperatures have fallen below freezing at night.
Berlin says thousands of the migrants have reached Germany, where many are housed in migrant centers. Others have been detained and put in closed migrant centers in Poland and Lithuania.
Information for this article was contributed by Vanessa Gera, Monika Scislowska, Geir Moulson, Daria Litvinova, Kirsten Grieshaber, Jan M. Olsen, Edith M. Lederer, Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani of The Associated Press and by Aliaksandr Kudrytski, John Follain, Patrick Donahue, Andra Timu, Wojciech Moskwa, Vladimir Kuznetsov, Milda Seputyte, Arne Delfs, Josh Wingrove, Jenny Leonard, Jennifer Epstein and Alberto Nardelli of Bloomberg News.
