Sharjah24 – AFP: The EU prepared to unveil new sanctions against Belarus following the first high-level contact between Brussels and Minsk since the migrant crisis on the EU's eastern border began.

After speaking with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said sanctions would be "counter-productive".

Borrell said he had spoken to Makei by phone about "the precarious humanitarian situation" at the Poland-Belarus border.

"The current situation is unacceptable and must stop. People should not be used as weapons," Borrell said in a tweet.

Thousands of migrants from the Middle East are camped out on the EU-Belarus border, creating a stand-off between the EU and US on one side and Belarus and its ally Russia on the other.

Western countries accuse Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's government of engineering the crisis by encouraging migrants to come to Belarus and then taking them to the border.

Lukashenko, who has been in power for nearly 30 years and has led a bloody crackdown against his opponents, denies the charges and blames the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also rejected accusations of being involved in the crisis and has urged the EU to speak directly to Belarus.