Lithuania stops two irregular migrants at Belarus border, Latvia turns back 137

Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) reported on Tuesday that two irregular migrants were prevented from entering the country from Belarus, while Latvian border guards turned back 137 migrants the previous day.

VSAT stated that Latvia is currently facing significant pressure from secondary irregular migration flows originating from Belarus. In a recent interview with BNS, Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas did not rule out the possibility of reintroducing temporary border controls.

Last summer, Poland implemented such measures in response to increased migrant flows from Lithuania and Germany. According to the Interior Ministry, secondary migration from Latvia has quadrupled this year compared to the same period last year, rising from just over 300 to more than 1,200 foreign nationals.

VSAT data also shows that Polish border guards recorded one attempt to enter the country illegally on Monday. So far this year, Lithuania has denied entry to 903 irregular migrants. Last year, there were over 1,600 attempts to cross into Lithuania from Belarus at unauthorised locations, compared to 1,002 the previous year.

Since the start of the migration crisis instigated by Belarus, Lithuanian border guards have prevented more than 25,500 foreign nationals from entering the country illegally. The influx of migrants into the EU’s eastern member states from Belarus began in 2021, with Western nations accusing Minsk of orchestrating the crisis.