The European Union has blacklisted tourism companies and Belarusian officials who helped Poland and Lithuania create an immigration crisis.

The United States also raised economic pain to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, but a dissident warned that sanctions would only make him "more angry."

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Belavia, the flagship airline of Belarus designated by the European Union, said: “Immigrants who wish to cross the EU’s external borders have been flying Belavia-operated flights from some Middle Eastern countries (especially Lebanon, the UAE and Turkey) to Minsk.”

It blacklisted Syria's Cham Wings for similar reasons.

After Turkish Airlines played a role in immigration flights, it also cited the warnings of Istanbul travel agency VIP Grub to Turkey.

The EU’s ban includes four Belarusian tourism companies and officials who “forced immigrants to illegally cross the border between Belarus and the member states of the Union”.

It named a judge who imprisoned Maria Kolesnikova, one of more than 850 political prisoners in Belarus, to remind Lukashenko of ongoing domestic violence.

It prohibits two Belarusian chemical companies and a tire manufacturing company from supporting the "regime".

The package on Thursday (December 2) is the fifth time that the EU has hit him since Lukashenko's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last summer.

Past measures have targeted a few pro-Lukashenko oligarchs, such as Mikhail Gutseriev, who was born in Russia, and the export of potash (a fertilizer ingredient).

But so far, the EU has let other big fish go unpunished.

On the same day, the U.S. blacklisted 32 individuals and entities that “made the [Belarus] regime smuggle immigrants into the European Union... [and] participated in the ongoing suppression of human rights” .

It imposes restrictions on Belarusian sovereign debt.

It tightened the pressure on potash trading.

Canada and the United Kingdom joined the Western Front, and the United Kingdom designated Belarus as a potash producer.

Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States said in a statement: “Those in Belarus... who facilitate the illegal crossing of the EU’s external borders should know that this comes at a huge price.”

"We will take severe, asymmetrical but sufficient measures," said the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For Natalia Koliada, a Belarusian immigrant living in London, the EU sanctions are: "Not enough to stop him [Lukashenko]".

"It's enough to make him more angry, but it won't kill him politically," she said.

But another Belarusian activist who asked not to be named welcomed the US action.

"This is the first time in history that the United States has implemented truly effective sanctions," he said.

The activist pointed out that cutting off Lukashenko’s own income would mean “an increase in [financial] prices” that Russia supports him in power.

He added that Moscow is “afraid of (the EU and the US may) impose sanctions on Aeroflot”, referring to Russia’s largest airline, which has also been accused of transporting migrants.

If Europe tries to "strangle" him, Lukashenko has twice threatened to prevent Russia from exporting natural gas to the European Union.

But the Kremlin told him not to do this.

The Belarusian border crisis has claimed the lives of more than a dozen refugees, including children.

At the same time, Russia has stationed an invading force on the Ukrainian border and warned of conflict in the West, which is the most serious tension in the region in years.

Its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of smuggling missiles under Russia's nose in a speech in Stockholm on Thursday.

He said: "U.S. medium-range missiles are about to appear in Europe, reappearing a nightmare of military confrontation."

Lavrov also implicitly threatened to invade Ukraine in the same way that Russia invaded Georgia 13 years ago.

"The decision of the NATO summit held in Bucharest in April 2008 that'Georgia and Ukraine will become NATO members' is a mine based on the European security structure," he said.

"Once, in August 2008, it'exploded'," Lavrov said.

Borel’s spokesperson said in Brussels that the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borel had a “brief meeting” with Lavrov on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe event in Sweden on Thursday.

The EU spokesperson said Borel urged Russia not to "aggression" against Ukraine.

The spokesperson added that the EU foreign ministers will discuss sanctions against Russia in the event of Russia’s invasion at the meeting on December 13.

"We will stand up for Ukraine," he said.

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