EU stops 199 illegal migrants at Belarus border

May 2, BPN. The EU has not allowed 199 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service spotted eight trespassers in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area.

Citing Latvia’s State Border Guard, it said 90 illegal attempts to cross the Belarusian-Latvian border were documented.

The Polish Border Guard said that 101 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus, Congolese, Togolese, Sudanese and Eritreans among them.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 10,999 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 7,900 attempts via Poland, 2,174 via Latvia and 925 via Lithuania.

BPN‘s analysis of daily stats indicates growing tension on the Belarusian-EU border. There were 1,989 illegal attempts in January, 2,034 in February and 3,401 in March, and 3,440 in April, with Poland being the prime target.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated on November 8, 2021 when thousands of migrants set up a camp near the Polish border. The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.

Migration figures had dropped significantly by the time Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but have risen more recently.