PARIS (Reuters) – Belarus could face more sanctions if it gets more and more involved in the Ukraine conflict, French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna told French radio on Tuesday.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that he had ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its backers in the West.

The remarks from Lukashenko, who has held power in Belarus since 1994, indicate a potential further escalation of the war in Ukraine, possibly with a combined Russian-Belarus joint force in the north of Ukraine.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)