{"id":198749,"date":"2026-08-05T19:17:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T16:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/198749\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T19:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T16:17:08","slug":"lithuania-finds-third-tunnel-at-belarusian-border-in-two-weeks","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/198749\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania finds third tunnel at Belarusian\u00a0border in two weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Lithuania's State Border Guard Service) <\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

August 5, Pozirk. Lithuania\u2019s State Border Guard Service has reported the discovery of a third underground tunnel leading from Belarus within the past two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tunnel was presumably intended for the illegal entry of undocumented migrants. It was found on August 4 near the village of Late\u017eeris in the Druskininkai municipality with the help of special equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reinforced with logs and boards, the tunnel was reportedly around 1.5 meters deep with an entrance roughly four meters from the Lithuanian border line, camouflaged with fabric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the two previously discovered tunnels, this one was unfinished. It had no exit hole in the Lithuanian territory and therefore could not have been used for illegal border crossing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tunnel was destroyed, and investigation was launched in connection with its discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 3, Rustamas Liubajevas, head of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service told LRT that the Belarusian authorities help undocumented third-country foreigners build tunnels under the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, Lithuanian border guards have already found about ten tunnels used for irregular border crossings, Liubajevas noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction typically begins in the Belarusian territory, continues beneath the state border and extends as far as possible into Lithuania to \u201cmake it more difficult to detect the moment of illegal border crossing,\u201d Liubajevas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The longest section of a tunnel discovered in Lithuania reportedly measured about 25 meters, and the tunnel\u2019s total length reached up to 40 meters. Some tunnels were dug as deep as eight meters and reinforced with wooden supports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a complex task requiring specific skills and logistics, as timber is needed to reinforce the tunnel,\u201d Liubajevas said, adding that such activity indicated the Belarusian side\u2019s active involvement, possibly through logistical support or by allowing foreigners to operate in the border zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such developments indicate that authorities in Minsk are most likely not abandoning their efforts to maintain tensions along the shared border, the official noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania last reported the discovery of tunnels under its border on July 29 and July 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, Lithuanian border guards apprehended nearly 40 undocumented migrants who had crossed the border through an underground tunnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flow of people eager 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

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