{"id":205270,"date":"2026-09-25T21:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T18:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/205270\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T21:05:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T18:05:42","slug":"latvia-grappling-with-irregular-migration-for-six-months-already","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/205270\/","title":{"rendered":"Latvia grappling with irregular migration for six months already"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 25, <\/strong>Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Attempts by third-country migrants to enter Latvia outside official checkpoints continue daily for six months already, according to Pozirk\u2019s <\/em>analysis of reports from border guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia\u2019s State Border Guard reported 11,242 incidents between March 25 and September 24, as many as 61 per day on average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From January 1 to March 24, the State Border Guard reported just 141 irregular entries, or less than two per day. No incidents were reported between January 1 and February 1, possibly because of cold weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia has accounted for 84.7 percent of irregular entries reported by Belarus\u2019 western neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 10, Latvia launched the operation Vilkatis to crack down on irregular migration by third-country nationals via Belarus. Initially scheduled to end on September 1, the operation was extended for another month.<\/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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