EU stops 135 illegal migrants at Belarus border

April 19, BPN. The EU has not allowed 135 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service spotted 16 trespassers in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area.

Citing Latvia’s State Border Guard, it said 26 illegal attempts to cross the Belarusian-Latvian border were documented.

The Polish Border Guard said that 93 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus, Indians and Somalis among them.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 9,454 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 6,883 attempts via Poland, 1,722 via Latvia and 849 via Lithuania.

Border crossing attempts rose from 1,989 in January to 2,034 in February and 3,401 in March.

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.