No persons detected attempting to illegally cross Latvia-Belarus border for tenth day in a row

RIGA - Border guards have recorded no attempts to illegally enter Latvia from Belarus for ten days in a row, LETA was told at the State Border Guard.

Last year, 13,863 people were stopped from crossing the border illegally and 428 were admitted on humanitarian grounds. In 2022, 5,286 attempts to illegally cross the Latvian-Belarusian border were prevented, while 217 people were allowed to cross the border for humanitarian reasons.

While this past autumn, on average, around 100 attempts to enter Latvia were prevented per day, this number has decreased over the last month and a half, and there are already relatively regular consecutive days when no attempts have been reported.

At the end of last year, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (New Unity) admitted that there might be a pause in the pressure of illegal migration, but there is no reason to lift the heightened protection of the Latvian-Belarusian border.

Due to the pressure of illegal immigration, from August 11 of last year until February 10, 2024, border surveillance will be reinforced in several administrative territories bordering Belarus. In view of the rapidly growing hybrid threat on the Latvian-Belarusian border, the State Border Guard is mobilizing additional border guards to strengthen the protection of the external state border. The Border Guard has also requested additional support from the National Armed Forces (NAF) and the State Police.

Latvian authorities consider attempts by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko's regime to push migrants across Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish borders to be methods of hybrid warfare targeting these countries.