Poland has temporarily reinstated border checks with Lithuania starting Monday night in an effort to curb secondary irregular migration, authorities said.
The checks, initiated by Warsaw, will be carried out at 13 designated crossing points along the Polish-Lithuanian border, according to Polish officials.
These include Ogrodniki (Janaslavas, Lazdijai district), Budzisko (Salaperaugis, Kalvarija municipality), Trakiszki (Mockava, railway), Grzybina (Varteliai, Vištytis, Vilkaviškis district), and others in the Lazdijai, Kalvarija, and Vilkaviškis regions.
As previously reported by BNS, Poland announced it would reintroduce checks at its borders with Germany and Lithuania to stop migrants who initially entered the European Union via Belarus.
Lithuanian border officials said 352 irregular migrants were detained in the first half of this year after crossing from Belarus into Latvia and then attempting to reach Western Europe through Lithuania and Poland.
That figure represents a 2.5-fold increase compared with the same period last year.
The movement of migrants from the Middle East and Africa into EU countries via Belarus began in 2021. EU governments have accused the Belarusian government of orchestrating the flow of migrants as a form of “hybrid warfare”.
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