EU stops 55 illegal migrants at Belarus border

February 15, BPN. The EU has not allowed 55 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 for three consecutive days, but their Latvian colleagues thwarted 14 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 41 foreigners, including nationals of Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Morocco and Syria, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. 

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 3,017 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 2,106 attempts via Poland, 589 via Latvia and 322 via Lithuania. 

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021, with European officials accusing Alaksandr Łukašenka of engineering it.

Infuriated by Western sanctions, Minsk suspended cooperation with the European Union (EU) on countering illegal migration. “You will have to catch them yourselves,” the Belarusian leader warned the EU neighbors, referring to illegal migrants.

Minsk later withdrew from the readmission treaty with the EU. The crisis escalated in November 2021 when thousands of migrants set up a camp near the Polish border. 

Migration figures dropped significantly by the time Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but have risen more recently.