EU stops 115 illegal migrants at Belarus border

August 31, BPN. Over the past 24 hours, European Union countries have not allowed 115 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that 92 migrants were turned around in the Belarusian-Lithuanian border area on August 30. Since the beginning of the year, 5,394 illegal attempts to cross the border have been recorded in Lithuania.

The Lithuanian service, citing Latvia’s State Border Guard, reported that five illegal attempts to cross the Belarusian-Latvian border were recorded yesterday.

The Polish Border Guard said on Twitter that 18 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus over the past 24 hours. In addition, Polish border guards detained two nationals of Iraq and Moldova on the border with Lithuania. They were planning to take to Germany eight migrants from Iraq, Afghanistan and Tajikistan who had entered the EU from Belarus.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated on November 8, 2021, when thousands of migrants set up a camp near the Polish border. The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble at the border, while the latter blamed it on the West.

Migration figures had dropped significantly by the time Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but have risen more recently.