EU stops 136 illegal migrants at Belarus border

March 29, BPN. The EU has not allowed 136 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that thwarted eight attempts by migrants to cross the border in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on March 28, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 17 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 111 foreigners, including nationals of Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Tunis and Ethiopia, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 7,051 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 5,206 attempts via Poland, 1,238 via Latvia and 607 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.