Illegal Belarus-EU border crossing attempts soar to 624 on weekend

April 9, Pozirk. Illegal border crossing attempts by third-country nationals from Belarus into the European Union spiked to at least 624 on Saturday and Sunday, hitting a record weekend high after 568 attempts recorded in late September 2023, Pozirk‘s analysis of border guards’ data showed.

Illegal migration between Belarus and the EU rose to 1,905 attempts in the first week of April, an almost 14-fold increase from 96 attempts recorded in January.

Poland led in the number of illegal attempts last week with 1,692, of which 575 were recorded on the weekend.

Since the start of 2024, the EU thwarted at least 6,686 illegal border crossings on its shared border with Belarus, with 5,573 attempts via Poland, 963 via Latvia and 150 via Lithuania.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border started in spring 2021 after Alaksandar Łukašenka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent migrants from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU. It escalated in November 2021, with hundreds of migrants storming the Polish border.

In June 2021, the Belarusian government announced the suspension of a readmission agreement with the EU in response to sanctions that followed the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.

Pozirk’s analysis of daily stats indicated fluctuated tension at the Belarusian-EU border throughout 2023 with illegal border crossings picking up the pace in February.

The Baltic States and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.

In August 2023, the interior ministers of Poland and the Baltic States warned that they would close the border with Belarus in response to a surge in illegal migration.