EU stops 154 illegal migrants at Belarus border

June 4, BPN. The European Union has not allowed at least 154 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service did not record illegal border crossings for two consecutive days but said their Latvian colleagues thwarted 30 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 124 foreigners, including nationals of Turkey, Syria, Algeria and Yemen, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Border guards arrested one Belarusian and one Ukrainian for complicity in illegal migration.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded at least 15,927 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory from Belarus, with 11,044 attempts via Poland, 3,737 via Latvia and 1,146 via Lithuania. Illegal migrants attempted to cross the Belarus-EU border 408 times since the start of June.

BPN’s analysis of daily stats indicates growing tension on the Belarusian-EU border, with Poland being the prime target. Illegal border crossing attempts rose from 1,989 in January and 1,970 in February to 3,401 in March, 3,440 in April, and 4,719 in May.

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 in February 2022, but have risen more recently.