U.N. Security Council condemns Belarus for migrant crisis. Russia denies involvement

Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway, the United States and Britain raised the migrant crisis during a closed-door meeting of the 15-member body. "We condemn the orchestrated instrumentalisation of human beings whose lives and wellbeing have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus, with the objective of destabilizing neighboring countries and the European Union's external border and diverting attention away from its own increasing human rights violations," they said in a statement. They described the Belarusian approach as "unacceptable," and accused President Alexander Lukashenko of becoming a threat to regional stability and called for a "strong international reaction" to hold Belarus accountable, pledging "to discuss further measures that we can take." The EU says Belarus is encouraging thousands fleeing war-torn parts of the world to try to cross into Poland and other neighboring countries to retaliate for EU sanctions.

Belarus has warned the crisis could escalate into a military confrontation while Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia said Belarus posed a serious threat to European security. Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told reporters ahead of the council meeting that he believed his Western council colleagues "have some kind of masochist inclinations because to raise this topic, which is a total shame for the EU, in front of us would be very brave." When asked if Russia or Belarus were helping move the migrants to the Polish border, Polyanskiy said: "No, absolutely not." He added that not all problems needed to be tackled by the Security Council. Russia is a council veto-power so can shield Belarus from any possible attempts to impose U.N. sanctions. Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway, the United States and Britain said: "We will remain united and determined to protect the EU against these hybrid operations by Belarusian authorities."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has the ability to exercise influence over Belarus's treatment of migrants at its border with Poland and Germany expects him to do so, a German government spokesperson said on Friday. "From our point of view, the Russian president has the possibility to influence the situation and we expect him to take appropriate steps," the spokesperson told a regular government news conference.

Belarus is ready to ensure its safety and call on Russia for assistance if needed, TASS quoted the country's defence minister as saying on Friday. The comment came as Russian and Belarusian paratroopers were holding drills in western Belarus near its border with Poland as thousands of migrants have been trying to cross into the European Union.

Turkey's flights to Minsk will be reduced to zero for a limited time after a deal with Turkish Airlines to stop the flow of Middle Eastern migrants to Belarus and to stop them trying to reach Poland, the European Commission said on Friday.

Belarusian state-owned airline Belavia said earlier on Friday it would stop allowing citizens of Iraq, Syria and Yemen to board flights from Turkey to Belarus at the request of Turkish authorities. "In line with a decision by the ... Turkish authorities, citizens of Iraq, Syria, Yemen will not be accepted for transportation on flights from Turkey to Belarus from 12.11.2021," it said in a statement on its website. Belavia, which is barred from flying over the European Union after the grounding of a plane earlier this year, continues to fly to destinations like Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan