Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė says Belarus is waging hybrid war against Lithuania
Adviser to Lithuanian President Asta Skaisgirytė and head of the Interior Ministry Agnė Bilotaitė argue that Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime is waging a hybrid war against Lithuania, pressuring the country, Delfi reports.
“Recently, the Belarusian regime has significantly increased hybrid pressure on our country. One of the signs of such pressure is the increasing number of illegal migrants,” said Scaisgiritė.
Bilotaitė also said that one part of the hybrid war is the increase in illegal migration.
“It is clear that a hybrid war is being waged against Lithuania, and illegal migration is one of the means,” the minister said. “In the past 24 hours, we have detained 52 illegal migrants. In the last 5 months, the number of illegal migrants has doubled if we compare it with the data from last year,” she continued.
Bilotaitė stated that Lithuania is prepared for possible challenges and that the authorities have all the necessary means to protect the border.
In May, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service representative, Giedrius Giedrius Mišutis, told reporters that the work of the Belarusian border guards in investigating border incidents had become more sluggish. According to him, there are cases where Lithuanian border guards record violations and detain violators, but Belarusian officials refuse to meet.
On June 2, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Lithuania Agnė Bilotaitė stated that there are reasons to believe that Belarusian border guards contribute to illegal migration to Lithuania.
