EU stops 145 illegal migrants at Belarus border

May 7, BPN. The European Union has not allowed 145 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day following 200 illegal crossing attempts on May 5.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it foiled six attempts in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on May 6, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 60 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 79 foreigners, including nationals of Eritrea, Ghana, Comoros, Congo and Mali, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Border guards arrested a Lithuanian national who transported 10 illegal migrants.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 11,848 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory from Belarus, with 8,366 attempts via Poland, 2,530 via Latvia and 952 via Lithuania. Illegal migrants attempted to cross the Belarus-EU border 1,048 times since the start of May.

Border crossing attempts rose from 1,989 and 2,034 in January and February to 3,401 and 3,440 in March and April, respectively.

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.