Lithuania turns back 18 irregular migrants at Belarus border

Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) reported on Wednesday that 18 irregular migrants were turned away at the border with Belarus over the past week.

According to VSAT, Latvian border authorities also prevented 56 migrants from entering the country on Thursday, while Polish officials recorded no attempts during the same period.

Last year, Lithuanian border guards blocked over 1,600 attempts by migrants to cross illegally from Belarus, with 550 such cases recorded so far this year. Since the start of the migration crisis orchestrated by Belarus in 2021, Lithuania has denied entry to 25,100 irregular migrants.

The influx of migrants into Eastern EU states began in 2021, with Western governments accusing Minsk of deliberately engineering the crisis.