{"id":183108,"date":"2026-04-10T15:15:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/183108\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:15:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:15:04","slug":"migration-pressure-mounts-on-latvia-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/183108\/","title":{"rendered":"Migration pressure mounts on Latvia, Lithuania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 10, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Attempts by undocumented third-country foreigners to cross from Belarus into Latvia bypassing official border checkpoints hit a seven-month high on April 9, according to the Baltic country\u2019s State Border Guard Service. The agency recorded 108 attempts that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia has thwarted 713 attempts since January 1, followed by Lithuania with 350 and Poland with 158. Poland used to be the primary target of EU-bound migration last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Poland has not reported a single incident since March 26. Lithuania reported 14 irregular crossings on April 9, but a few days before it discovered an underground tunnel that asylum seekers used to cross from Belarus unnoticed. It said around 30 people crossed through the tunnel on April 6 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, Lithuania reported spikes in irregular migration via Belarus. Vilnius listed the end of the migration crisis as one of the conditions for launching a dialogue with Minsk at the level of deputy foreign ministers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flow of people desperate to cross into the EU surged in spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia, Lithuania and Poland call the migration crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland signed a joint declaration in late February to strengthen cooperation and beef up border security and respond to hybrid threats. The governments committed \u201cto resist the instrumentalization of migration and other hybrid threats at the external borders of the EU, including land, sea, and airspace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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