MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. The European countries and associations have been escalating the migrant situation on the Belarusian border with the EU in place of specific humanitarian assistance to people in trouble, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"Everyone sees these appalling images and hears the horrifying statements by representatives from Poland, Lithuania, other countries and, unfortunately, the EU associations. Using these efforts to resolve the crisis instead, and this is not just a crisis, these are people, these are children, women, elderly people, people who are in need of practical, specific, immediate assistance to provide them with medicines, clothing, and food apart from psychological help. The help that will ensure their survival. <...> We see another round of efforts to exacerbate tensions, manipulate facts and information, and counteract the media work. This is just horrifying. I expected a lot of things, but I didn’t expect this. I was shocked by how the Polish side have treated journalists," she said.

The migrant crisis on the Belarusian border with Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland where the migrants have been flocking since the beginning of the year, sharply aggravated on November 8. Several thousand people approached the Polish border from Belarus and are not leaving the area. Some of them attempted to enter Poland by destroying a barbed-wire fence. EU countries have accused Minsk of the intentional escalation of the crisis and call for sanctions. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that the Western countries themselves were to blame in this situation since people were fleeing the war because of their actions.