EU stops 95 illegal migrants at Belarus border

April 24, BPN. The EU has not allowed 95 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it foiled 18 attempts in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on April 23, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 16 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 61 foreigners, including nationals of Guinea, Iran, Cameroon, Congo and Ethiopia tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Border guards arrested two Georgians as well as one German and one Kyrgyz national for complicity in illegal migration.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 10,044 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 7,295 attempts via Poland, 1,870 via Latvia and 879 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 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. Poland has been leading as the main destination for illegal migrants in 2023.