Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the number of migrants heading to Polish-Belarusian border via Moscow is increasing.

"There is obvious activity. We are talking about an automatic increase in the number of migrants travelling via Moscow to compensate for certain losses due to the cancellation of a flight from Iraq, with the subsequent aim of landing in Minsk and reaching the border to try to cross the European Union border," said Nauseda, during a press conference on the migration crisis at the European Union borders issue, in Vilnius on Monday. The presidents of Latvia and Estonia, Egils Levits and Alar Karis also participated.

According to the Latvian president, "the integration of Belarus into the Russian military system is already a fait accompli."

"We should recognise that the hypothesis we have always held, and which has now been further strengthened, is that military cooperation between Russia and Belarus is not in dispute," said Nauseda.

In addition, the president said that there was a lot of evidence showing "involvement of armed men of the Lukashenko regime in controlling the flow coming into Belarus and diverting it to selected destinations - Poland, Lithuania and Latvia."

"It is quite clear what the Lukashenko regime and its allies are trying to do to test the unity of the Western world in its ability to respond and resist hybrid attacks organised in the form of migration. We are witnessing a cynical act of irresponsible attitude to people's health and lives, outright public lies and manipulation on Belarusian territory," said the Lithuanian president.

During the press conference, Nauseda also stressed the need for the EU "first of all work at NATO level to ensure that NATO changes its strategy and defence plans accordingly."

"There is now a need to agree on common European Union objectives to ensure real protection of the external border of the European Union, to speed up the process of reviewing the European Union migration and asylum policy, to ensure European Union funding for building a physical barrier on the external border," the president concluded.

Earlier, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urged Moscow to influence Minsk on the migration crisis in order to improve relations with the European Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggested that the EU member states discuss the migration crisis in their contacts with Belarus, during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Furthermore, Putin described the accusations of the migration crisis against Moscow as "laying the blame at someone else's door," during a television program.

The migrant crisis comes amid escalating tensions between the EU and Belarus. Brussels has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the migrant flow as part of a 'hybrid war' designed to put pressure on the bloc over sanctions. Minsk has denied the allegations.

Poland last month strengthened border patrols on the frontier with Belarus and put up a barbed-wire fence in place in an attempt to stem the flow.