EU stops 70 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 8, BPN. The EU has not allowed 70 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day. 

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away nine migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on January 7. Lithuania recorded over 11,000 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory in 2022. 

The Polish Border Guard said that 61 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. On January 7, the body of a presumed migrant was discovered near the village of Przewłoka in Podlaskie Voivodeship near the border with Belarus, RMF24 reported citing the local police.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 626 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 338 attempts via Poland, 187 via Latvia and 101 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.