(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN/WARSAW, NOV 10 - Germany supports new EU sanctions against Belarus, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Wednesday, accusing Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of "unscrupulously" exploiting" migrants by sending them to the Polish border. "We will sanction all those who participate in the targeted smuggling of migrants," Maas said in a statement.

"Lukashenko must realise that his calculations are not working," he said, adding that the bloc will work to "extend and tighten EU sanctions against Lukashenko's regime". "The European Union cannot be blackmailed," he added. Thousands of desperate migrants were trapped in freezing weather on the border between Belarus and EU and NATO member Poland on Tuesday, with Warsaw accusing Russia and the government in Minsk of using them to threaten European security.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating a wave of migrants trying to illegally enter Poland from Belarus, saying the "attack" threatens to destabilise the European Union. The accusation came as thousands of desperate migrants were trapped in freezing weather on the Belarus-Poland border, where the presence of troops from both sides has raised fears of a confrontation. (ANSA-AFP).