WARSAW, Aug 18 — Poland’s prime minister today accused Belarus of “blackmail” over a group of migrants stranded on the border between the two countries and said Warsaw would not let them in.

Mateusz Morawiecki said the migrants were being “exploited” by Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko.

“It cannot be that Mr Lukashenko’s blackmail forces us to accept anyone,” Morawiecki told reporters.

Thousands of migrants—mostly from the Middle East—have in recent months crossed or tried to cross into the three EU countries bordering Belarus: Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

The EU has accused Belarus of encouraging the migrants to make the crossings in retaliation for EU sanctions against the regime, with Lithuania calling it a form of “hybrid warfare”.

After Lithuania began pushing the migrants back at the beginning of August, increasing numbers of arrivals  were reported in Latvia and Poland.

All three countries are not allowing the migrants in to make asylum requests and Belarusian border guards are not allowing them back into Belarus, creating frequent stand-offs.

“The Border Guard will not allow illegal immigrants to enter Poland,” Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik said on Twitter on Wednesday about the makeshift encampment near the Polish village of Usnarz Gorny.

Wasik said the migrants were “on the Belarusian side”, adding that “the border is sealed”.

The news channel TVN24 said the migrants had been in the area for several days and were receiving food from Polish authorities.

The interior ministry tosay said that so far in August 2,100 people had attempted to cross the Polish-Belarusian border illegally and 1,342 of them had been prevented from doing so.

In the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said in a statement that border guards had prevented 130 crossings and arrested eight foreign nationals.

The government “has opposed illegal and uncontrolled migration from the outset. Poland does not allow entry into our country of people who may pose a threat to our citizens,” the statement said.

The ministry wants to tighten legislation further to make expulsions easier and appeals against expulsions harder.

Poland’s military has also been drafted in to assist the border guards and Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak today said 900 soldiers were assisting the operation. — AFP