EU stops 168 migrants at Belarus border

June 21, BPN. The European Union has not allowed at least 168 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that it foiled nine attempts in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area on June 20, while their Latvian colleagues thwarted 56 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 103 foreigners, including nationals of Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Eritrea and Ethiopia, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded at least 17,829 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory from Belarus, with 12,508 attempts via Poland, 4,086 via Latvia and 1,235 via Lithuania. Illegal migrants attempted to cross the Belarus-EU border 2,310 times since the start of June.

BPN’s analysis of daily stats indicates growing tension on the Belarusian-EU border, with Poland being the prime target. Illegal border crossing attempts rose from 1,989 in January and 1,970 in February to 3,401 in March, 3,440 in April, and 4,719 in May.

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 in February 2022, but have risen more recently.