Operation Vilkatis leaves Silene life largely unchanged

Operation Vilkatis has brought little visible change to daily life in Silene, a village in Augšdaugava Municipality near Latvia’s eastern border, LSM reported. Authorities will assess the operation’s success by whether illegal migration decreases.

The operation began on August 11 and will continue until the end of the month. The responsible services have promised to expand their presence and use more technology to combat illegal migration.

A Latvian National Armed Forces patrol checked vehicles at a gravel-road junction, inspected documents and asked drivers to open their boots. Everyone was checked without exception, and the procedure took about a minute.

Driver Rolands said he was already accustomed to such checks. “They either stand on the roads or drive around and stop people. It has been like that for us for two or three years. Here, they have been since yesterday,” he said.

The operation was announced on the day a group of illegal migrants was found using an underground tunnel near the closed Silene border checkpoint.

Silene is located only a few kilometres from the border. Its centre has two shops, a cafe and a fountain, and there were few signs that the village had become the focus of a special operation. Posters displaying the contact details of the border guard and municipal police were visible near the cultural centre.

People in the village reported different experiences. Inese, who had travelled from Cēsis to attend a wedding, said she had learned about the operation from journalists.

“We were already saying in the car that it is very safe here. If you do not read the news and do not know anything, it is completely peaceful and quiet, and very beautiful,” she said.

Liene, who is not from Silene, noticed the increased checks. “We came to visit from the direction of Smiltene, and they stopped us at five places,” she said.

Raimonds, who lives in Daugavpils and delivers beer to local shops, said he had not noticed major changes in recent days. “People continue to live and work as usual. When driving through the villages, I have not particularly seen any manoeuvres or anything else more or less connected with catching refugees,” he said.