Lithuanian border guards turn away 38 irregular migrants from Belarus

Lithuanian border authorities prevented 38 irregular migrants from entering the country from Belarus last week, the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) reported on Wednesday.

Latvian border guards repelled 22 foreign nationals on Tuesday, while Polish officials recorded no attempts to cross their border illegally on Monday.

This year, Lithuania has denied entry to 650 irregular migrants. In 2025, authorities documented over 1,600 attempts to cross from Belarus at unauthorized locations, compared to 1,002 such cases the previous year.

Since the start of the Belarus-orchestrated migration crisis in 2021, Lithuanian border guards have blocked more than 25,000 foreign nationals from entering the country illegally. The influx of migrants to Eastern EU member states via Belarus began in 2021, with Western officials accusing Minsk of orchestrating the crisis.