Lithuania turns back 26 migrants at Belarus border in one day

Lithuanian border guards turned back 26 migrants who tried to enter the country illegally from Belarus in the past 24 hours, the State Border Guard Service said on Saturday, LRT reported.

Latvia’s border service, which is facing a large influx of irregular migrants, denied entry to 28 people on Friday. Polish officials reported no such cases on Thursday.

The Lithuanian service said officials prevented more than 1,650 people from entering the country from Belarus at unauthorised locations last year and 1,823 so far this year. Since the migration crisis began, about 26,300 migrants have been denied entry to Lithuania.

Migrants began arriving in eastern European Union countries in 2021. Western countries blamed the Minsk regime for the influx.