Lithuanian border guards have detained and ordered about 180 illegal migrants to return to Belarus since midnight, the head of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, Rustama Lubayev, said on Tuesday.
“More than 100 migrants were not allowed into the territory of the Republic of Lithuania,” Lubayev told reporters, later adding that the number of these migrants is about 180.
Earlier, Lithuanian Deputy Minister of the Interior Arnolds Abromavičs told Lithuanian public radio that dozens of migrants had not been admitted to Lithuania last night, and such cases had taken place in Švenčionys, Šalčininkai and Ignalina districts.
Roks Pukinsks, a representative of the State Border Guard Service, told the portal “Delfi.lt” that several groups of illegally entered migrants were forced to return to Belarus. In some cases, border guards have been assisted by the military police, and there have been cases of dog handlers.
The Lithuanian Interior Ministry told Facebook on Tuesday that it had evidence that “Belarusian officials were involved in organizing illegal migration.”
“On Sunday in Salcininkai district from [Eiropas Savienības robežsardzes aģentūras] A group of illegal migrants, accompanied by a company car and their occupants, were spotted on a Frontex helicopter involved in the operation. The vehicles of this model are used by the employees of the Belarusian State Border Guard Committee, “the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior informed.
It has already been reported that Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite signed an order on Monday allowing Lithuanian border guards to force illegal migrants crossing the Lithuanian border to return or redirect them to border checkpoints or diplomatic missions.
“In order to protect the state border and prevent persons intending to cross the border in illegal places from entering the territory of Lithuania, an order has been issued to oblige them to use legal means of border crossing or asylum and to direct persons to the nearest international border checkpoint or diplomatic mission,” Ministry of the Interior.
Commenting on the decision on Lithuanian public television, the Minister pointed out that international law allows illegal immigrants to return if such a decision is a temporary solution and migrants are offered an alternative to seek asylum.
Bilotaite said that migrants are being invited to Belarus as a safe territory where there are no military conflicts. This means that foreign citizens arriving in Belarus on tourism as a pretext should then leave in the same legal way as they did.
The flow of illegal migrants across the Lithuanian-Belarusian border has been reported to increase sharply recently. Since the beginning of this year, the total number of illegal immigrants apprehended has reached almost 4,000. Most illegal migrants want to enter Western European countries through Lithuania.
Lithuanian officials point out that the Belarussian regime is deliberately facilitating the flow of migrants across the border, as Lithuania supports the democratic opposition in Belarus and has given asylum to its leader Svyatlan Cihanouska.
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