EU stops 171 illegal migrants at Belarus border

May 4, BPN. The European Union has not allowed 171 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service did not record illegal border crossings on May 3, but their Latvian colleagues thwarted 77 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 94 foreigners, including nationals of Afghanistan, India, Eritrea and Ethiopia, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus. Border guards arrested a Polish national for complicity in illegal migration, taking a total of arrests on these charges to 277 since January.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 11,302 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory from Belarus, with 8,106 attempts via Poland, 2,267 via Latvia and 929 via Lithuania. Illegal migrants attempted to cross the Belarus-EU border 502 times since the start of May.

Border crossing attempts rose from 1,989 and 2,034 in January and February to 3,401 and 3,440 in March and April, respectively.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated in November 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 in February 2022, but have risen more recently. Poland has been leading as the main destination for illegal migrants in 2023.

According to an internal report of the German police, Russian authorities are issuing visas en masse to citizens of Middle Eastern countries for their subsequent entry into the European Union through Belarus.

“The misuse of Russian visas to travel via the Russian Federation to Belarus and on to the EU remains unchanged,” Germany’s Bild reported on May 3, citing the document.

The route through Russia and Belarus is reportedly advertised in social networks, and special aircraft carry migrants from Turkey to Russia.

In late March, Iran’s private airline Mahan Air launched regular passenger service between Tehran and Minsk. Polish and Lithuanian officials expressed concern that it might be a new route for illegal migrants and an attempt to intensify Russia’s hybrid attack on the EU.

Illegal crossing attempts have risen sharply since then.