{"id":196750,"date":"2026-07-22T14:26:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/196750\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T14:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:26:26","slug":"russia-joins-icj-proceedings-after-lithuania-sues-belarus-over-irregular-migration","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/196750\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia joins ICJ proceedings after Lithuania sues Belarus over irregular migration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

July 22, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Russia has filed a \u201cdeclaration of intervention\u201d in proceedings that were launched in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after the Lithuanian government filed a lawsuit against Belarus for allegedly engineering a migration crisis at the shared border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia invoked the right of third-party intervention as a party to the 2000 Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the declaration, Russia recalls that Poland has also submitted a declaration of intervention in the proceedings and claims that a coordinated campaign is taking place \u201csolidifying the regrettable trend of misusing international dispute resolution mechanisms as a tool for exerting pressure on geopolitical opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The declaration says that the \u201clawfare\u201d campaign involves \u201cblatant distortion of treaties, factually false and legally unsound allegations, and extensive use of politicized interventions in the Court\u2019s proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia expresses hope that its intervention \u201cwill serve to assist in maintaining a stable and correct interpretation of the Protocol that is consistent with the principles of international law, thus preserving the interests of international justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania filed its lawsuit with the International Court of Justice in The Hague this past May. Vilnius demands more than \u20ac200 million from Minsk in damages, saying that an influx of irregular migrants forced it to invest in a border fence, border surveillance systems and deploy a larger number of personnel at the border with Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lithuanian government has reportedly allocated \u20ac45,000 to cover litigation costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus\u2019 western neighbors have been affected by the migration crisis since 2021, when the flow of people eager to get into the European Union surged. At that time, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, 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

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

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