EU stops 92 illegal migrants at Belarus border

February 16, BPN. The EU has not allowed 92 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.

The Lithuanian service, citing Latvia’s State Border Guard, said 24 illegal attempts to cross the Belarusian-Latvian border were prevented.

The Polish Border Guard said that 59 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus, Afghans and Syrians among them.

A total of 3,109 illegal attempts to enter the EU from Belarus have been registered in 2023 (Poland: 2,165 attempts; Latvia: 613 attempts; Lithuania: 331 attempts).

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 on February 24, but have risen more recently.