EU to fund Lithuania’s upgrade of security systems at Belarus border

November 2, Pozirk. The European Union has allocated €9.3 million to Lithuania to improve the electronic monitoring systems along the 84-kilometer-long border with Belarus, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service said.

The European Commission will provide the funding to the Lithuanian interior ministry via the Border Management and Visa Instrument which is a part of the EU Integrated Border Management Fund.

Since January, Lithuanian border guards have recorded 2,192 illegal border crossing attempts from Belarus, with 387 attempts in October alone.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated in November 2021, with thousands of migrants setting 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.