Irregular migrant flows from Belarus have been specifically directed to Lithuania since mid-July, says Rustamas Liubajevas, commander of Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT).
The developments are partly related to “political decisions adopted in Lithuania and the European Union”, Liubajevas said in an interview published on 15min.lt, referring to sanctions on Russia and Belarus.
“Now, it looks like Lithuania has once again been chosen as the target of that form of hybrid attack,” he said.
Liubajevas noted that the scale of migrant flows was smaller now than last year, but had increased considerably compared to earlier months.
“The situation at the Polish border with Belarus is much more stable. The numbers of border violations and people denied entry there are much smaller,” he said.
According to VSAT data, 1,018 irregular migrants were turned away on Lithuania’s border with Belarus in July, up from 430 in June or 370 in May. The numbers include repeated attempts by the same people to cross the border.
“Therefore, we are now beefing up the protection of our border. We have already provided additional capacities at the border with Belarus and are holding discussions with partners, including the armed forces and the police, on the deployment of additional forces at the border with Belarus,” Liubajevas said on Wednesday.
According to him, Lithuanian officers saw evidence that migrants were often assisted by Belarusian officers.
“Being deployed at the border, we only see the actions of [Belarusian] border guards and those actions show that border guards organise the movement of irregular migrants across the border, provide assistance to those people, damage our physical barrier, let those migrants out into Lithuania’s territory. And we have lots of such evidence,” Liubajevas added.
Almost 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus last year. In August last year, Lithuanian border guards were instructed to turn them away. Rights groups have criticised Lithuania, saying the policy represents pushbacks and violates migrants’ rights to seek asylum.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian government called the migrants’ flow a “hybrid attack” orchestrated by Belarus as a way of pressuring the EU.
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