EU stops 64 illegal migrants at Belarus border

January 27, BPN. The EU has not allowed 64 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away 18 migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on January 25. 

The Polish Border Guard said that 46 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 1,719 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 1,208 attempts via Poland, 309 via Latvia and 202 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.