Belarus Threatens West as EU Debates Severe Sanctions

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has threatened to retaliate for any European Union sanctions imposed on him for detaining two opposition activists after forcing their plane to land in Minsk earlier this week.

Hours before a scheduled meeting in the Russian seaside resort of Sochi with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, his only major international ally, the Belarusian leader warned he would allow migrants and drugs to pour into western Europe. The 66-year-old said, “We stopped drugs and migrants. Now you will eat them and catch them yourselves.” In a show of support for Lukashenko, Russia has been refusing permission for some European passenger jets to enter its airspace after airlines, following EU guidance, ordered their planes to alter their usual flight paths and bypass Belarus, depriving the Belarusian government of millions of dollars in flyover fees. Austria Thursday condemned Moscow’s decision to cancel the Vienna-Moscow service as “absolutely incomprehensible.”