EU stops 95 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 4, BPN. The EU has not allowed 95 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day. 

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away 10 migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on January 3, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 25 attempts. In 2022, Lithuania recorded attempts by 11,211 illegal migrants to cross the border.

The Polish Border Guard said that 60 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Border guards say that they arrived in Belarus via Russia. 

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, 2022 but have risen more recently.