EU stops 92 illegal migrants at Belarus border

December 30, BPN. The EU has not allowed 92 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day. 

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away five migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on December 29, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted attempts involving 63 migrants. Since the beginning of the year, Lithuania has recorded 11,188 illegal attempts to cross the border.

The Polish Border Guard said that 24 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Border guards also arrested one Belarusian for complicity in illegal migration. 

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.