Latvian-Belarusian Border: 3,860 People Prevented from Illegal Crossing, 194 Admitted for Humanitarian Reasons

This year, 3,860 people were prevented from illegally crossing the Latvian-Belarusian border, the State Border Guard informed.

On the other hand, 194 people were admitted to Latvia for humanitarian reasons.

On Friday, 22 people were detained, on Saturday – 43, on Sunday – two.

Last year, a total of 5,286 people were prevented from illegally crossing the Latvia-Belarus border, while 217 people were not prevented from crossing the border due to humanitarian reasons.

In 2021, on August 10, the government decided to declare a state of emergency in Ludza and Krāslava counties, as well as in Daugavpils. It has been extended several times, and the last extension is set until August 10. Previously, it has been debated several times that instead of an emergency situation, some other form of regulation could be established at the border, but no changes have followed.

The Ministry of the Interior has indicated that the war against Ukraine started by Russia and openly supported by Belarus can be considered as an additional risk circumstance and a possible motivation for Belarus to continue its efforts to destabilize the situation on the country’s border with Latvia, that is, to put pressure on the European Union (EU) and NATO.

The competent institutions of Lithuania and Poland continue to receive information about illegal crossing of the state border from the territory of Belarus.