Vilnius suggests extending state of emergency at Belarus border

September 6, BPN. The Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior has suggested that the state of emergency on the border with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region should be extended until December 16, the ministry’s press office reports, quoting Minister Agnė Bilotaitė.

The current state of emergency expires on September 16.

“The unsafe and unstable geopolitical situation creates conditions for the Russian and Belarusian authorities to carry out hybrid attacks and various provocative acts against Lithuania,” Bilotaitė said (quotes rendered from Russian). “In response to this, we must take the necessary security measures to counter potential threats.”

In addition, Alaksandr Łukašenka’s regime has recently “become more and more active in using migrants as a form of hybrid aggression against Lithuania.” According to Bilotaitė, Belarusian border guards transport illegal migrants to the border and send them into Lithuania, damaging the fence.

With the state of emergency in place, border protection and controls are enhanced.

Lithuanian State Border Guard Service said that its officers forced 78 migrants back into Belarus on September 5. Since the beginning of the year, Lithuania has recorded 5,900 attempts to illegally cross the border.

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.