{"id":201746,"date":"2026-08-30T13:22:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T10:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201746\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T13:22:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T10:22:58","slug":"lithuania-sees-rise-in-irregular-crossings-via-belarus-in-august","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201746\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania sees rise in irregular crossings via Belarus in August"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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August 30, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> The neighboring European Union countries recorded 1,509 attempts by undocumented third-country foreigners to enter via Belarus during the four weeks of August, according to Pozirk<\/em>\u2019s analysis of border guards\u2019 data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia remained the primary target of irregular migration via Belarus, accounting for 80.6 percent of all attempts (1,216), followed by Lithuania with nearly 16 percent (239) and Poland with 3.6 percent (54).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania saw its highest level of migration pressure in four months in August after recording 163 irregular crossing attempts in July, 94 in June and 108 in May. April holds the record with 481 attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Latvian border, the number of irregular crossing attempts in August was lower than in each of the previous four months. Riga reported 2,206 attempts during the 29 days of July, 2,263 in June, 2,319 in May and 1,577 in April. Latvia has seen migrant activity for 158 consecutive days, since March 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of irregular crossings targeting Poland decreased slightly from 79 in July yet was significantly higher than in all of June and all of April when 14 attempts per month were reported, yet slightly higher than in May with 43 attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2026, Belarus\u2019 western neighbors have thwarted 11,939 irregular crossing attempts, almost three times fewer than during the same period in 2025 with 33,539 attempts.<\/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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