{"id":191073,"date":"2026-06-09T11:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/191073\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T12:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:37:18","slug":"irregular-belarus-latvia-crossings-exceed-500-in-first-week-of-june","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/191073\/","title":{"rendered":"Irregular Belarus-Latvia crossings exceed 500 in first week of June"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

June 9, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Latvia has not allowed at least 4,814 undocumented third-country foreigners to cross irregularly via Belarus since March 25, according to Pozirk<\/em>\u2019s analysis of border guards\u2019 data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attempts have been reported for 75 consecutive days, reaching 4,955 since the year\u2019s start and exceeding 500 in the first week of June.

The number of irregular crossings at the Belarusian-Latvian border this year is comparable to the same period last year, when 4,750 attempts were reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Latvian law enforcers arrested four suspects in the cases linked to facilitating irregular migration, including one Ukrainian, one Lithuanian and two Poles.

Since the start of 2026, Belarus\u2019 western neighbors have thwarted at least 5,957 irregular crossings, which is a significant decline year on year, as 17,121 attempts were documented during the same period in 2025.<\/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

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