{"id":179702,"date":"2026-03-17T12:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/179702\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T13:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:19:20","slug":"belarus-baltic-neighbors-report-new-highs-of-irregular-crossings-via-belarus-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/179702\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus’ Baltic neighbors report new highs of irregular crossings in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (mk.gov.lv)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

March 17, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Yesterday saw another peak of irregular border crossings by undocumented migrants from Belarus into Latvia and Lithuania this year, according to Pozirk<\/em>‘s analysis of border guards’ data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia thwarted 45 attempts on March 16 after stopping 15 attempts a day earlier. Lithuania reported 15 irregular crossings after 17 consecutive days without any attempts. A similar number of attempts, 69 targeting Latvia and 17, Lithuania, were reported three months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2026, Belarus\u2019 western neighbors have thwarted at least 246 attempts by undocumented migrants to enter their territories via Belarus, with the number of irregular crossings dropping significantly from 2,076 attempts reported in the same period last 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

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