{"id":200271,"date":"2026-08-17T22:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/200271\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T22:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:48:39","slug":"lithuania-reports-spike-in-irregular-entry-attempts-as-its-border-chief-resigns","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/200271\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania reports spike in irregular entry attempts as its border chief resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Lithuanian State Border Guard Service)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

August 17, <\/strong>Pozirk<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Lithuania reported a sharp increase in the number of irregular crossing attempts from Belarus in the first 16 days of August as the head of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service resigned over reports of his agency\u2019s failure to disclose a violent attack on Lithuanian border guards during a botched tunnel ambush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Pozirk\u2019s analysis of border guards\u2019 data, Lithuania prevented 152 attempts by undocumented third-country foreigners to enter their territory from Belarus in the first 16 days of August, up from 38 in the same period of July and 62 in the same period of August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the neighboring European Union countries reportedly prevented 1,020 attempts at irregular crossing from Belarus, 25.5 percent less than in the first 16 days of July and 3.1 times less than in the first 16 days of August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia remained the primary target for undocumented migrants with 826 attempted crossings, but the share of Lithuania grew from 2.4 percent in the first 16 days of July to 14.9 percent in the first 16 days of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland reportedly prevented 42 attempts at irregular entry from Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus\u2019 western neighbors reported thwarting 11,450 irregular crossings since the start of 2026, including 9,886 into Latvia, 1,187 into Lithuania and 377 into Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total number of attempts at irregular entry from Belarus was significantly larger in the same period of 2025, when those countries reported 30,528 entry attempts. Lithuania and Latvia reported increases of 17.3 and 15.8 percent, respectively, in the number of such attempts, while Poland reported a 55.6-fold drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 17, LRT<\/em>\u00a0reported that Rustamas Liubajevas, head of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, had tendered his resignation as law-enforcement agencies were investigating an incident that followed the discovery of an underground tunnel at the end of July, intended for the illegal entry of undocumented migrants from Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four Lithuanian border guards reportedly ambushed and handcuffed several irregular migrants near the tunnel but were forced to retreat when 20 other migrants attacked them. Both the handcuffed attackers and the detainees escaped to Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service did not mention the attack in its report on the incident, including the fact that migrants had beaten up one of the border guards and tried to drag him across the border line into Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A scandal broke out after Lithuanian media exposed the gaps in the agency\u2019s account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flow of people eager 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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