MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. The North Atlantic Alliance keeps hurling threats at Russia but it proves to be a coward when dealing with the Islamic State terrorist group, a senior Russian lawmaker Alexey Pushkov said in his Twitter on Friday.

"The true response to the wave of migrants is to eliminate the main reason for their escape. But NATO, which is only busy threatening Russia, is afraid of the IS," said Pushkov, who heads the foreign affairs committee of the Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma.

This year, the number of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa coming to Europe has been on the rise amid escalating conflicts in these regions. In the recent weeks, the migrants have been storming border fences, trains and ferry boats.

According to the European Commission, since early 2015, more than 400,000 migrants have officially applied for asylum in 28 EU member-states, compared with 280,000 last year. Around 200,000 people have arrived onboard vessels via the Mediterranean Sea.

The migrants issue came to the forefront after the bodies of 71 refugees from Syria were found in a truck in Austria in late August. A total of 2,600 people have died this year as they attempted to flee to Europe.

Experts say the flow of illegal migrants to the EU countries may reach 1 million people by the year-end.