Belarusian border guards facilitate irregular migration to Lithuania by leading foreigners to places with no physical barrier, Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) says.
“Belarusian border guards continue to actively contribute to irregular migration to Lithuania, for example, by bringing migrants to the state border, by leading them to places with no physical barrier yet, or where one will not be built due to natural conditions,” VSAT said in a statement on Thursday.
“They also help migrants to break the physical barrier to cross into Lithuania,” it added.
According to VSAT, such activity was confirmed by migrants themselves. Four foreigners detained in Lithuania’s Švenčionys District last weekend said they were brought to the border by Belarusian officials who led them to the place of the border violation and told them to go to Lithuania.
Here, on the Lithuanian side, the physical barrier has not been completed yet. Lithuanian border guards saw the border violation on CCTV and detained the migrants.
The four men had no ID and claimed to be Afghan citizens.
“Clearly, without the help of the Belarusians, migrants would not know that the physical barrier is still being built here and that it’s easier to cross the border in this particular area than in the area where it has been completed,” VSAT said.
“This information is available to Belarusian officials monitoring the barrier construction works,” it added.
Some 30 to 90 irregular migrants have been prevented from entering Lithuania from Belarus in recent days.
In total, almost 12,400 irregular migrants have been refused entry from Belarus to Lithuania since August 3, 2021, when Lithuania border guards were granted the right to turn irregular migrants away.
Last year, almost 4,200 migrants entered Lithuania from Belarus. Lithuania calls the influx of migrants from Belarus a hybrid attack orchestrated by the Minsk regime.
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