EU stops 71 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 17, BPN. The EU has not allowed 71 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service did not record illegal border crossings on January 16, but said that their Latvian colleagues thwarted three attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 68 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 1,147 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 751 attempts via Poland, 264 via Latvia and 132 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 in February 2022, but have risen more recently.