France warns Russia as EU prepares sanctions on Belarus

Migrants gather around a fire in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region, Belarus November 14, 2021. Picture taken November 14, 2021. Oksana Manchuk/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

BRUSSELS/WARSAW/MOSCOW (Reuters) - France told Russia on Monday NATO would be prepared to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine, near where NATO says Moscow has been staging a troop buildup, while Western leaders sought to tackle a migrants crisis on the eastern borders of the European Union.

The European Union agreed to step up sanctions against Belarus over thousands of migrants stranded in freezing forests on its borders with the EU. Belarus, a close Russian ally, said assertions it had fuelled the crisis were "absurd".