Latvia foils more than 12,000 illegal border-crossing attempts

Latvian authorities have stopped more than 12,000 attempts to cross illegally from Belarus this year, already surpassing last year’s total, LSM reported. On Saturday, eight people without valid travel documents were detained in Krāslava municipality with help from local hunters.

The highest annual figure so far was recorded in 2023, when 13,863 people were prevented from crossing illegally. The State Border Guard’s Daugavpils administration said that record could also be exceeded this year.

Valdis Jukšs, head of the Daugavpils administration, said the likelihood depended on the weather and on the organisation and resources of those transporting migrants. He noted that severe frosts in 2021 and 2022 had not stopped illegal crossings, and some people suffered frostbite and had limbs amputated.

Border guards detained the eight people in Asūne parish, Krāslava municipality, with assistance from hunters from Konstantinova. The Vilkatis operation to combat illegal migration along the Belarusian border has been extended until the end of the year.

Latvia continues to face illegal crossings from Belarus, as do Lithuania and Poland. Officials from the Baltic states and Poland have said Belarusian authorities are deliberately allowing people to cross the border in response to those countries’ support for the Belarusian opposition and sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. The European Union has described the actions as hybrid warfare.