October 28, Pozirk. The neighboring European Union countries prevented 1,006 attempts by undocumented third-country foreigners to enter their territory from Belarus in the first 27 days of October, compared with 1,453 in the same period of September, according to Pozirk’s analysis of border guards’ data.
Latvia thwarted 34 attempts at irregular entry from Belarus on October 27, recording attempted crossings for the 217th consecutive day.
Lithuania and Poland saw no such incidents at their border with Belarus on Tuesday, with the latter reporting no irregular activity for seven days in a row.
Latvia has accounted for 87.3 percent of all irregular entry attempts from Belarus this month and for 84.7 percent this year. Poland’s share has been 0.8 percent in October and 3.3 since January.
Belarus’ western neighbors have reported thwarting 14,812 irregular crossings since the start of 2026.
The flow of people eager to cross into the EU surged in spring 2021 after Alaksandar Łukašenka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.
In June 2021, the Belarusian government suspended a readmission agreement with the EU in response to sanctions that followed the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland call the migration crisis a “hybrid attack” orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.
