PM Morawiecki: Belarus to face more sanctions over Russian nuclear arms plan

President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday Russia would station the nuclear arms in Belarus, his latest gambit in a worsening stand-off with the West over the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.

"This step taken by Russia, which for now is the announcement of the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, will certainly lead to the announcement of additional sanctions, the level of sanctions will be much more severe for the Lukashenko regime," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference in Bucharest, referring to the Belarusian president.

The United States, the world's other leading nuclear superpower, has reacted cautiously to Putin's statement, with a senior Biden administration official saying there were no signs Moscow planned to use its nuclear weapons.

However, Lithuania has said that it will call for new sanctions against Moscow and Minsk in response to Russia's plan.

Morawiecki said he was in daily talks with other European Union leaders about an 11th package of sanctions against Russia and that it would include more measures targeting Belarus, a close ally of Moscow.

Relations between Warsaw and Minsk were strained even before the war in Ukraine made them allies of opposing sides in the conflict.

Poland accuses Belarus of orchestrating a migrant crisis along its borders which reached a peak in 2021, though migrants continue to arrive at the frontier today. Minsk denies pushing migrants towards the border.

The two neighbours are also in dispute over the jailing of a journalist of Polish origin in Belarus and the vandalism of Polish graves in the country.

Amid the deteriorating ties, Poland closed one of its key border crossings with Belarus in February, a move Minsk has condemned. On Tuesday, Morawiecki said Poland was considering further limitations on cross-border traffic.

"We border directly with Belarus and, therefore in Poland, we are considering we are considering tightening the parameters of passenger and freight traffic as part of our bilateral relations, in order to send a clear signal to Lukashenko that we do not accept actions that serve Russia in its aggressive actions in Ukraine and its aggressive actions against Poland and against other EU countries," Poland's PM stressed.

Romania and Poland are in talks with the European Commission over export tracing mechanisms for Ukrainian grains to ensure local farmers are not hurt by a flood of cheap imports, the Polish and Romanian prime ministers said on Tuesday.

Ukraine, one of the world's largest grain exporters, has seen its Black Sea ports blocked since Russia invaded more than a year ago and has been forced to find alternative shipping routes through European Union states Poland and Romania.

But logistical bottlenecks mean that large quantities of Ukrainian grains, which are cheaper than those produced in the European Union, have ended up in central European states, hurting prices and sales of local farmers.

Romanian and Polish Prime Ministers Nicolae Ciuca and Mateusz Morawiecki told the conference in Bucharest their governments were working on solutions with the EU.

"Together we are engaged in a process to discuss with the European Commission about what the mechanisms should be to enforce the traceability of Ukrainian exports and final destinations," Ciuca said.

Morawiecki said they "are fighting together for this grain to leave our countries, for the European Union to effectively help us in the implementation of trade policy, which is in the best strategic interest of Ukraine and Central Europe, but also in the best economic interest of Poland and Romania."

Earlier this month, Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea said the European Commission has estimated farmers from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia have lost 417 million euros ($451.15 million) overall from the inflows of cheaper Ukrainian grains on their markets.

Daea also said the Commission aimed to hand out compensation worth 56.3 million euros to Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian farmers, with a final decision expected on March 30.