Belarus stokes migrant crisis at its borders

The number of illegal migrants crossing into Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia from Belarus continues to increase. The total number of illegal migrants detained at the Poland-Belarus border is already double the figures from the last year.

From 12 July, the military, in addition to border guards, will patrol the Latvian borders with Belarus and Russia.

Earlier, the European border agency Frontex launched an urgent operation on the Lithuania-Belarus border due to the influx of migrants from Belarus. Lithuanian border guards have already detained 1,634 illegal migrants on the border with Belarus so far in 2021. This is almost 20 times more than in the entire last year. The Lithuanian government has declared a state-level emergency situation. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis proposes new sanctions against Belarus in response to the migrant crisis.

At a joint meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Civil Liberties on 12 July, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson pointed out that the Lukashenko regime is deliberately acting to stoke the migrant crisis at the Belarus-EU border.