EU stops 29 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 24, BPN. The EU has not allowed 29 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 23, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 14 attempts. 

The Polish Border Guard said that six nationals of Egypt, Yemen and Somalia tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. 

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 1,515 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 1,052 attempts via Poland, 296 via Latvia and 167 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.