EU stops 100 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 7, BPN. The EU has not allowed 100 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day. 

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away 52 migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on January 6, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 20 attempts. 

The Polish Border Guard said that 28 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. 

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 556 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 277 attempts via Poland, 187 via Latvia and 92 via Lithuania.

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.