EU stops 55 illegal migrants at Belarus border

February 12, BPN. The EU has not allowed 55 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it turned away five migrants in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on February 11, while their Latvian colleagues spotted zero attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 50 foreigners, including nationals of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 2,761 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 1,900 attempts via Poland, 539 via Latvia and 322 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.