EU stops 72 illegal migrants at Belarus border

December 18, BPN. The EU has not allowed 72 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it did not see any trespassers in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area. Since the beginning of the year, Lithuania has recorded 11,090 illegal attempts to cross the border.

The Lithuanian service, citing Latvia’s State Border Guard, said 34 illegal attempts to cross the Belarusian-Latvian border were documented.

The Polish Border Guard said that 38 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus, nationals of India and Tajikistan among them.

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, 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.