The situation on the Latvian-Belarusian border is still stable – it was confirmed by the Minister of the Interior Marija Golubeva (AP) in an interview with TV3 News. The Border Guard is working with the National Guard and the European Border Agency, Frontex, under an enhanced regime. Amendments to the law have been submitted to the government to begin the large-scale construction on the border with Belarus promised five years ago.
Assessing the situation on the Latvian border with Belarus, the Minister of the Interior points out that the situation is not significantly different from previous months, namely, the small number of Iraqi violators detained by Belarus, who were detained last month, is not yet a serious trend.
“We have no reason to talk now that the situation has changed drastically. “Border guards work – they identify all risks and also cooperate with the European agency” Frontex “, which helps us to protect this European external border,” says Golubeva.
Since the illegal migration crisis in Lithuania caused by the Lukashenko regime, there are concerns about a similar situation on the Latvian side, so the border guards have called in the army in time. Since 12 July, the National Guard has been providing support to border guards at six border checkpoints. Basically on the Latvian-Belarusian border and on one border guard post on the border with Russia. It is currently planned that the National Guard will support the border guards by 11 August.
“We involve a total of 26 national guards on a daily basis, who support border patrols and provide support in border patrols and the prevention of illegal immigration. There are no challenges with that at the moment, we will complete our task by the planned time. We will also provide our support, ”says Colonel Kaspars Pudāns, Acting Commander of the National Guard. So far, the National Armed Forces has not received a request for continued support.
“It is up to 11 August to do so. Then, of course, if such a task is given, then we will have to assess the possibilities of providing support, given that, however, the priority is to ensure our combat readiness. Therefore, if the situation worsens and it is necessary to continue to support the state border guard, then we will have to look at this issue separately and decide on the possibilities for this task. If such resources are available to us, then we will definitely be able to do it, ”says Pudāns.
Unlike the Latvian-Russian border, where a fence equipped with electronic control devices has already been established in several sections, Belarus is separated from Latvia by a plowed border zone about two meters wide. Also, there are not enough motion sensors to monitor the entire length of the boundary. The minister responsible for the sector makes no secret of the fact that the issue of strengthening the border must be addressed as a matter of urgency. At the moment, the government is pushing for amendments to the laws to raise the issue of the construction of the eastern border zone, which was already planned five years ago. However, it is currently unknown when this could happen and how much funding it will need.
“It is a very important issue to strengthen the border with infrastructure, as we know, for many years this issue has not moved much because the State Audit Office has detected several violations so far. We are working with the border guard consistently to rectify all these past findings, and we are working to speed up the possibility of building a border in the future. I can’t say the exact amount of funding, because the funds allocated by the state are definitely not enough, “says Golubeva.
The construction of the Belarusian border was suspended after the State Audit Office concluded that more than seven million state budget funds had been illegally spent on the construction of a fence on the Russian border. It was planned to build a 120-kilometer-long fence on the border with Belarus for 9.6 million.-
It has already been reported that in July about three dozen illegal Iraqis crossed the Latvian border from Belarus. It is planned that next week the Saeima Defense Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Commission will decide on the situation on the Belarusian border and the possible increase in illegal immigration.
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