Lithuania will continue helping Latvia to deal with migrant influx

VILNIUS - Lithuanian border guards will continue helping Latvia as the neighboring country is facing an influx of irregular migrants, and a new group of 20 officers is leaving for Latvia on Tuesday, the State Border Guard Service reports.

The group will replace 17 Lithuanian border guards who have been guarding the Latvian border with Belarus for two weeks.

"Twenty Lithuanian border guards, just as the previous SBGS officers working in Latvia, will carry out border surveillance, prevention of illegal migration from Belarus and other border protection activities in the most problematic sections of the border, under the coordination of their Latvian counterparts," the SBGS said.

Under the plan, they will also work at the Latvian border with Belarus for at least two weeks. Further decisions on such assistance will be made in the light of the situation on the neighboring border with Belarus.

Latvia has recently faced a significant increase in migrant flows and 164 attempts to cross the border illegally were recorded on Monday. Lithuanian officers call this a hybrid attack orchestrated by the Minsk regime.

Meanwhile, Lithuania has not recorded any attempts by irregular migrants to enter the country from Belarus for the past three days.