Factbox: How Belarus became gateway to EU for Middle East migrants

A sign is seen on a barbed wire fence on the Belarusian-Polish border as hundreds of migrants set a camp in an attempt to cross it in the Grodno region, Belarus November 9, 2021. A sign reads: "State border. Crossing is prohibited". Leonid Scheglov/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Hundreds of migrants are stuck in freezing temperatures on the Belarusian border with Poland trying to get into the European Union as EU capitals and Minsk accuse each other of causing the crisis and of endangering lives.

Poland and other EU member states say Belarus is encouraging the migrants to cross the border into the EU in revenge for sanctions slapped on Minsk over human rights abuses, a charge President Alexander Lukashenko's government denies.