EU To Talk To Belarus To Resolve Migrant Crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the European Union it needs to start talks with Belarus if it hopes to resolve a crisis over hundreds of migrants trapped on the border with Poland. <br />Poland is refusing to allow the migrants to cross, accusing Minsk of luring them to Belarus to send across the border in revenge for sanctions. <br />The EU has so far refused any direct contact with Belarus’s strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko, who warned that any new sanctions would be met with a response, including potentially cutting off natural gas transit to Europe. <br />Merkel had called Putin to ask him to use his influence on Lukashenko to end the crisis.