Macron, Putin discuss deescalating Belarus border tensions

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin have talked on the phone about the need to deescalate the tensions around the migrant pressure on the European Union’s border with Belarus and about the need for humanitarian aid there.  They talked as the EU is expanding sanctions against Belarus to include airlines, travel agents and individuals accused of helping to lure migrants to Europe as part of a “hybrid attack” against the bloc by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. The EU has already slapped a series of sanctions on Lukashenko and senior Belarus officials over what it says were a sham election last year and a brutal crackdown on democracy protesters. Lukashenko has brushed aside the move toward more sanctions.