EU stops 182 illegal migrants at Belarus border

September 22, BPN. European Union countries have not allowed 182 migrants to illegally enter from Belarus over the past 24 hours.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away 117 migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on September 21, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 4 attempts. Since the start of 2022, Lithuania has recorded a total of 7,389 illegal attempts to cross the border.

The Polish Border Guard tweeted that 61 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus in the past 24 hours. Border guards arrested two Russians carrying eight illegal migrants from Egypt and Syria.

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.