Latvian border guards get more powers for repelling “hybrid attacks”
Latvia’s Saeima
October 29, Pozirk. Latvia’s Saeima (parliament) has passed an emergency bill giving border guards wider discretion while protecting the state border and its infrastructure against “hybrid attacks.”
Under the bill, border guards would be entitled to use physical force, special combat techniques, special equipment, and firearms, as well as to deploy service dogs to repel an attack on border facilities, the Saeima says in a statement.
The amendments also allow for the use of firearms without prior warning if such a warning is impossible.
Previously, the law did not explicitly grant border guards such authority, the statement stresses.
This year Latvia has been the main target for irregular migrants seeking to enter the European Union via Belarus, accounting for 85 percent of the nearly 15,000 crossing attempts.
A major incident occurred at the Latvian border on October 6, when a group of masked gunmen attempted to push 20 migrants into the Latvian territory, shouting threats at Latvian border guards. Several hours later, masked individuals crossed the Latvian border from Belarus, damaged a relay cabinet and stole surveillance cameras before retreating to the Belarusian territory.
Ivars Ruskulis, deputy chief of the Latvian State Border Guard, accused Belarus of deliberately testing Latvia’s reaction to provocations to see whether its border guards will shoot toward the border. Ruskulis explained that current regulations do not allow border guards to open fire in the direction of Belarus to stop aggressive migrants or their handlers.
Alaksandar Łukašenka dismissed Riga’s accusations and claimed that “this was all done by the Latvians themselves as a pretext to get money from the European Union.”
The flow of people eager to cross into the EU surged in spring 2021 after Łukašenka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.
In June 2021, the Belarusian government suspended a readmission agreement with the EU in response to sanctions that followed the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland call the migration crisis a “hybrid attack” orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.
Belarusian authorities behind irregular crossings, infrastructure damage, Latvia says
October 27, Pozirk. Latvia suspects Belarusian border control authorities of running a criminal ring that enables undocumented third-country foreigners to cross Latvia’s border and damage its infrastructure, according to a report broadcast by LTV. In July, Latvia’s Prosecutor General’s Office …
