EU stops 65 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 22, BPN. The EU has not allowed 65 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away three migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on January 21.

The Polish Border Guard said that 62 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Border guards arrested three Ukrainians for complicity in illegal migration.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 1,404 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 985 attempts via Poland, 276 via Latvia and 143 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.