{"id":185961,"date":"2026-05-02T19:30:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/185961\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T19:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:30:49","slug":"irregular-belarus-latvia-crossings-peak-in-april","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/185961\/","title":{"rendered":"Irregular Belarus-Latvia crossings peak in April"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 2, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Latvia did not allow at least 1,700 undocumented third-country foreigners to cross irregularly via Belarus last month, with attempts rising fivefold compared to the first quarter of 2026, with 322 such crossings, according to Pozirk\u2019<\/em>s analysis of border guards\u2019 data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania recorded 481 attempts in April against 189 in January-March, while Poland reported only 14 attempts against 158 in the first three months of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2026, Belarus\u2019 western neighbors have thwarted at least 2,864 irregular crossings, posting a significant decrease from 8,444 attempts during the same period in 2025. <\/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 on February 26 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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