{"id":179523,"date":"2026-03-16T12:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T09:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/179523\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T09:30:25","slug":"latvia-sees-highest-daily-irregular-border-crossings-via-belarus-since-years-start","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/179523\/","title":{"rendered":"Latvia sees highest daily irregular border crossings via Belarus since year’s start"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n \"\"\n
\n \n
\n (mk.gov.lv)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

March 16, Pozirk. <\/em><\/strong>Latvia thwarted 15 attempts by third-country foreigners to cross irregularly via Belarus yesterday, marking a daily high since the start of 2026, according to Pozirk<\/em>‘s analysis of border guards’ data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of March, Latvia has recorded 31 irregular crossings via Belarus, a 55 percent increase from all of February, when 20 attempts were reported. In January, Latvian authorities did not record any migrant activity at the shared border with Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irregular Belarus-Latvia crossings have declined sharply this year, with 51 attempts reported so far compared with 254 during the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2026, Belarus\u2019 western neighbors have thwarted at least 186 attempts by undocumented migrants to enter their territories via Belarus, with the number of irregular crossings plunging tenfold year on year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flow of people desperate to cross into the EU surged in spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2021, the Belarusian government suspended a readmission agreement with the EU in response to sanctions that followed the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia, Lithuania and Poland call the migration crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland signed a joint declaration on February 26 on strengthening cooperation to beef up border security and respond to hybrid threats. The governments committed \u201cto resist the instrumentalization of migration and other hybrid threats at the external borders of the European Union, including land, sea, and airspace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three countries agreed to develop corresponding measures within the existing legal framework of bilateral cooperation and on the EU level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n
\n \"\"