{"id":88451,"date":"2024-06-02T23:04:17","date_gmt":"2024-06-02T20:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/88451\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"illegal-eu-belarus-border-crossings-soar-to-almost-7700-in-may","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/88451\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Belarus-EU border crossings soar to 7,700 in May"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

June 2, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> The European Union (EU) has not allowed at least 7,694 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past month, 63 percent more than in May 2023 and 22 percent more than in April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland remained the primary target for illegal migrants who tried to cross there from Belarus at least 7,117 times in May, a 141-percent increase from May 2023, Pozirk<\/em>‘s analysis of the border guards’ data showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia and Lithuania recorded 543 and 34 illegal border crossings in May, respectively. In annual terms, illegal migration fell 65 percent in Latvia and 84 percent in Lithuania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first five months of 2024, the EU thwarted at least 18,813 illegal border crossings at its shared border with Belarus, with 16,458 attempts via Poland, 2,138 via Latvia and 217 via Lithuania. Illegal border crossings picked up pace in February and kept reaching record highs in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border started in spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent migrants from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU. It escalated in November 2021, with hundreds of migrants storming the Polish border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2021, the Belarusian government announced the suspension of 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

The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2023, the interior ministers of Poland and the Baltic States warned that they would close the border with Belarus in response to a surge in illegal migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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