Estonian police unit departs for Latvia to assist at Latvia-Belarus border

TALLINN - An 11-strong Estonian police unit departed from Tartu towards Latvia on Monday to assist in securing the Latvian-Belarusian border and preventing illegal border crossing attempts, which have increased of late.

The unit, ESTPOL 10, will operate in the Kaplava and Robežnieki regions, where the highest number of illegal border crossing attempts have occurred recently. The previous similar Estonian unit, ESTPOL 9, operated in the same area last summer. The unit that departed on Monday will work in Latvia for two weeks. During this time, the situation will be assessed together with the Latvian authorities, and a joint decision will be made on whether to send a second rotation.

Illegal border crossing attempts on the Latvian-Belarusian border have significantly increased. According to the current forecast, it is likely that their number will not decrease in the near future, and therefore, Latvia approached the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board last week with a request to send a police unit from Estonia to assist them.

The main task of ESTPOL10 will be to participate in border patrols, but given the patterns of behavior of the people attempting to illegally cross the border, Estonia was asked to send a team of people who also have training and experience in crowd control.

The Estonian border guard chief, Veiko Kommusaar, said that the Latvian border with Belarus is our common EU and NATO border.

"Estonia is always ready to help our friends and neighbors when we are approached for help. In recent weeks, the number of border crossing attempts has skyrocketed, and it is only natural that we go to their aid," Kommusaar said.

"Of course, it is important for the Police and Border Guard Board to gain real-life experience in countering migration-related attacks -- currently we see no signs that people keen to illegally cross the border are being directed toward our borders, but that could change very quickly. There is a greater risk that those who manage to cross the border illegally in the countries to the south of us might use Estonia as a transit country to proceed toward the Nordic countries. We have deployed additional forces to southern Estonia and the Tallinn area to prevent and deter any possible attempts to move illegally through Estonia," he added.

Pirko Pärila, the chief of the ESTPOL 10 team, said that assembling the team happened quickly and that the unit is expected to start working at the border on Tuesday.

"It was very gratifying to see that there are many people in the Police and Border Guard Board who are ready to assist our southern neighbor at very short notice -- there were so many volunteers that not all who expressed readiness for the mission could be included in the first rotation of ESTPOL 10. I believe that, as in previous times, Estonian police officers and border guards will be of great help to the Latvians this time as well," Pärila said.