{"id":204198,"date":"2026-09-17T11:37:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/204198\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T11:37:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:37:58","slug":"irregular-belarus-lithuania-crossings-halt-on-day-of-dissident-deportations","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/204198\/","title":{"rendered":"Irregular Belarus-Lithuania crossings halt on day of dissident deportations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 17, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Vilnius did not record any attempts at irregular border crossings by undocumented third-country foreigners yesterday as a group of 25 freed Belarusian dissidents was taken to Lithuania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the preceding week, Lithuanian authorities thwarted at least 132 attempts, which accounted for 8.6 percent of the total reported since the year\u2019s start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States’ diplomatic engagement with Belarus contributed to the release of political prisoners, as well as a reduction in hybrid threats and tensions in the region, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevi\u010dius told John Coale, US special envoy for Belarus, at their meeting yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irregular crossings at the Belarusian-Lithuanian border have been rising over the past three months, with 94 attempts in June, 163 in July and 312 in August, according to Pozirk\u2019s analysis of border guards\u2019 data. A total of 193 attempts were recorded in the first 16 days of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania accounted for nearly 4 percent of the total number of irregular crossings between Belarus and the European Union in June, 6.4 percent in July, 17.9 percent in August and 20.6 percent in the first half of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Latvia, which has been the primary target of irregular migration via Belarus this year, experienced a decrease from 95.6 percent of all attempts in June to 89.4 percent in July, 79 percent in August and to 70.3 percent in the first half of September.<\/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

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