Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, accused by Western countries of masterminding a humanitarian calamity on his country’s border with Poland, proposed sending to Germany some of the thousands of migrants stranded there, but Germany and the European Union immediately rejected the proposed scheme.

Lukashenko has rejected allegations by the EU that he enticed the migrants to the ex-Soviet state, mainly from the Middle East, by laying on flights, facilitating visas and accommodation and then channelling them to the border to push their way into EU member Poland. They said the scheme was a form of revenge for EU sanctions imposed on Belarus in connection with allegations that Lukashenko rigged his re-election last year and the mass repression of protesters that followed.

After days of tension and clashes this week with Polish guards patrolling their side of the fortified frontier, Belarusian officials began offering the migrants temporary shelter from sub-zero temperatures in a nearby warehouse. Their makeshift border camp thinned out considerably, though photographs by Polish guards showed some still huddling near the razor-wire barrier.

About 400 others gave up their bid to make their way into the Poland – and mostly on to Germany – and flew back to Iraq on an aircraft supplied by the Baghdad government.

Lukashenko’s press secretary, Natalya Eismont, said the president extended his offer to resolve the crisis after two telephone conversations this week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Humanitarian corridor

“The European Union is to set up a humanitarian corridor for 2,000 refugees now in the camp. We commit ourselves to facilitating (to the extent that this is possible and they are willing) to have the 5,000 remaining refugees return home,” Eismont said.

“And Angela Merkel, in accordance with our agreements, will hold talks with the EU, including the organisation of a humanitarian corridor to Germany…We’re fulfilling our promises, while the EU has not yet fulfilled a single obligation.”

Germany and EU officials flatly rejected the offer – on grounds that it played into the hands of Lukashenko – who wants sanctions lifted and formal recognition from the 27-nation bloc that he is the legitimate president. That recognition has been denied him for more than a year.

The EU’s Executive Commission said there was no question of negotiation with Lukashenko over the crisis. And German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Berlin would take in none, if any of the migrants.

“If we took in refugees, if we bowed to the pressure and said ‘we are taking refugees into European countries’, then this would mean implementing the very basis of this perfidious strategy”, Seehofer told reporters after talks in Warsaw.

Merkel’s office has stressed the need for humanitarian assistance and for the migrants’ safe return home.

EU foreign ministers agreed a new round of punitive measures this week which may target Belarusian officials, an airline that brought the migrants to Belarus and a hotel. Details of the measures are to be made public in the coming days.

Polish soldiers detained about 100 migrants who illegally made their way across the border. The Polish defence ministry said Belarusian security forces had incited the migrants to distract border guards by throwing stones and then helped organise a push across the frontier nearby.

At least 12,000 Polish servicemen have been dispatched to the border to keep the migrants on the other side of a razor-wire barrier. Lithuania and Latvia, also EU states bordering Belarus, have adopted a series of measures to secure their borders.

G7 countries denounce Belarus

Foreign Ministers of the G7 industrialised countries added their voice to denunciations of what they said was a Belarusian plot to destabilise the EU.

“We are united in our solidarity with Poland, as well as with Lithuania and Latvia, which have been targeted by this provocative use of irregular migration as a hybrid tactic,” a G7 statement said. ”The actions of the Belarusian regime are an attempt to deflect attention from its ongoing disregard for international law, fundamental freedoms and human rights, including those of its own people.”

At least 12 people have died in the area in recent weeks from the harsh conditions in the border zone, including a 1-year-old whose death was reported Thursday by a Polish humanitarian organization.

As Western countries imposed stiffer sanctions, Lukashenko has slowly moved closer to Russia – one of its few remaining allies. The Kremlin has dutifully backed Lukashenko and denounced the use of force by Polish soldiers, though Putin chided the Belarusian leader last week for suggesting that he could stop the flow of Russian transit gas through Belarusian territory to European customers.

On Thursday, Putin again blamed the EU for the humanitarian calamity.

“Western countries are using the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border as a new reason for tension in the region that is close to us, for pressure on Minsk, and at the same time they forget their own obligations in the humanitarian sphere,” he said.

Polish and Lithuanian officials have expressed dismay at Merkel’s contacts with Lukashenko.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said his country would not accept any decisions on the migrants reached without its participation.

The images of chaos and human deprivation from the border area recalled the migrant crisis that gripped Europe in 2015. They were prominently displayed on Belarus as its leaders, under increasing pressure of Western punitive measures, try to portray the EU as uncaring or even inhumane.

Russia has urged the EU to speak directly to Lukashenko and suggested a coordinated plan, similar to a 2016 scheme involving Turkey, to stem the flow of migrants westward.

The EU has been ramping up sanctions against Belarus since Lukashenko crushed dissent and shut down mass protests by demonstrators alleging he rigged his re-election. Top opposition leaders have fled the country, those remaining have been sentenced to long jail terms and more than 30,000 mainly young people have been detained for short periods.

Lukashenko had previously worked with the EU to keep migrants from crossing the border. But that abruptly ended after EU leaders slapped new sanctions, particularly on key exports, in response to Lukashenko ordering the grounding in May of a scheduled flight crossing through Belarusian airspace and the arrest of a dissident journalist on board.