EU stops 152 illegal migrants at Belarus border

September 15, BPN. EU countries have not allowed 152 migrants to illegally enter from Belarus over the past 24 hours.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (VSAT) reported that 108 migrants were turned away in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on September 14. Since the beginning of the year, Lithuania has recorded 6,711 attempts to illegally cross the border.

Over the past day, seven attempts to illegally enter the European Union were thwarted on the Latvian-Belarusian border, the Lithuanian service reported, citing colleagues in Latvia.

According to the Polish Border Guard, 37 migrants, including 15 Egyptian nationals, have tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus over the past day.

Polish border guards managed to detain three people who assisted migrants. These are nationals of Belarus and Ukraine who help Syrians 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.