Lithuania’s intelligence service is concerned about the sudden increased influx of illegal migrants from Belarus. The Lithuanian authorities suspect that Belarus is actively allowing the migrants to pass through to EU member state Lithuania in order to destabilize the European Union. The service takes into account an increased risk of terrorism.
So far this year, some 400 migrants, mainly from Iraq and Syria, have crossed the Belarusian-Lithuanian border. That is five times as many as in all of 2020. Most arrived in the past two weeks.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said yesterday that Minsk is actively helping migrants across the border. According to the Minister of the Interior, migrants from Baghdad and Istanbul are collected for this purpose. “Belarus is waging a hybrid war against us and this is one of the means being deployed,” the minister said.
Secret agents
The head of the Lithuanian intelligence service SSD takes into account that terrorists and secret agents are also traveling with the migrants. “We know that the KGB (the Belarusian secret service) wants to have spies in Lithuania. We cannot track everyone who enters our country, but we have to be very alert,” he said in a statement. an interview.
Many leaders of the Belarusian opposition live and work from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. The city has, among other things, a Belarusian university ‘in exile’. The presence of dissidents makes the country interesting for the Belarusian secret services.
The intelligence chief says he is looking at recent developments in Belarus with great concern. He expects the country to be driven “further into Russia’s arms” by recent Western sanctions. These were instituted after the ‘hijacking’ of a Ryanair plane, in which the critical journalist Roman Protasevich was arrested.
Earlier threat from Lukashenko
Belarusian dictator Lukashenko has vowed to take revenge on the European Union over recent sanctions. He said threateningly: “We are still stopping migrants and drugs for you. You will have to catch and eat them yourself.”
According to Belarusian opposition media, another 350 Iraqis arrived at Minsk airport today:
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