Lithuania orders review after migrants attack border guards

Lithuania’s Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas has ordered an official review of the State Border Guard Service leadership after a group of migrants attacked four border guards near the Belarusian border in late July, LRT reported. VSAT chief Rustamas Liubajevas said the incident initially appeared routine and was therefore not reported in detail to the minister.

The attack occurred after border guards stopped migrants from entering Lithuania through an underground tunnel and returned them to Belarus. About 20 migrants then assaulted the four officers. Some migrants, reportedly wearing handcuffs, fled back to Belarus. A pre-trial investigation has been opened.

The incident was not publicly disclosed at the time. Authorities reported only the discovery of the tunnel. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said he learned about the attack from the media and instructed the interior minister to investigate.

“The investigation must cover several questions. It is no longer July. Why are we learning only today about the incident that took place on July 26?” Sinkevičius said. He also called for an assessment of how the officers performed their duties, saying the failure to disclose the information raised questions and was unacceptable.

Katelynas said he had not received all the precise information. After summoning Liubajevas for an explanation, he ordered an official review to objectively assess the actions of the border service leadership.

“This may have been my mistake. Although the information was provided to me, I apparently did not fully assess that an incident which, according to our initial information, was no different from other incidents would attract so much attention from the media and the public,” Liubajevas said.

The incident came during a week in which three underground tunnels were discovered in Lithuania. Border guards from the Kapčiamiestis station detected a tunnel near Tartakas village in Lazdijai District using equipment that identified vibrations in the ground.

The tunnel extended almost 10 metres into Lithuanian territory. It was about one metre high and one metre wide and had been dug into the slope of an unnamed stream separating Lithuania and Belarus. Because unstable ground forced the metal fence topped with concertina wire to be installed deeper in the forest, the migrants ran out of time before reaching it.

According to Egidijus Pupšys, deputy head of the Varėna Border Guard Unit, such tunnels can take up to a week to dig. Workers use basic tools such as a shovel and a bucket, carry out the soil by hand and use logs and beams to support the structure.

The entire Lithuanian Belarusian border, nearly 700 kilometres long, is monitored by video cameras. Special equipment is needed to detect tunnels, and Lithuanian border guards are being assisted by Polish colleagues who have the necessary equipment and experience.

Pupšys said several locations where tunnels may be under construction are currently being monitored. LRT reporter in Poland Laurynas Vaičiūnas said Poland had reported new migrant routes from Belarus last year, including a tunnel through which 180 migrants entered Poland in December. Political analyst Vytis Jurkonis said the tunnels were being dug with the knowledge of Belarusian regime services and described the situation as an information and psychological war in which provocations from Belarus were possible.