EU stops 44 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 13, BPN. The EU has not allowed 44 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service did not record illegal border crossings on January 12, but said that their Latvian colleagues thwarted seven attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 37 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Two Ukrainians and one Moldovan were arrested for facilitating illegal migration.

A total of 884 illegal attempts to enter the EU from Belarus have been registered since the beginning of 2023 (536 to Poland; 237 to Latvia; 111 to 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, but have risen more recently.