EU stops 54 illegal migrants at Belarus border

February 9, BPN. The EU has not allowed 54 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service has not reported any attempts by migrants to cross the Belarusian-Lithuanian border on February 8, but their Latvian colleagues thwarted five attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 49 foreigners, including nationals of Egypt, Yemen and Syria, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. 

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 2,502 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 1,710 attempts via Poland, 503 via Latvia and 289 via Lithuania. 

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated in November 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.