EU stops 151 illegal migrants at Belarus border

September 19, BPN. Over the past 24 hours, EU countries have not allowed 151 migrants to illegally enter from Belarus.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away 85 migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on September 18, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 16 attempts. Since the start of 2022, Lithuania has recorded 7,061 illegal attempts to cross the border.

The Polish Border Guard tweeted that 50 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus in the past 24 hours. Border guards arrested an Azerbaijani carrying five Syrians near the Czeremcha border checkpoint.

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.