Lithuania turns back 19 migrants at Belarus border

Lithuanian border guards turned back 19 migrants who tried to cross the border illegally from Belarus in the past 24 hours, the State Border Guard Service said Wednesday, LRT reported.

Latvian border guards turned back 72 migrants on Tuesday. Poland recorded no attempts to cross its border illegally on Monday.

Lithuania has denied entry to more than 1,600 irregular migrants this year. Last year, people tried more than 1,600 times to enter the country from Belarus at unauthorised locations, compared with 1,002 attempts the year before.

The influx of migrants from Belarus to the European Union’s eastern member states began in 2021. Western countries accuse the Minsk regime of organising it.