A group of 30 employees of the EU Agency for External Border Security (Frontex) will be sent to strengthen the protection of the Lithuanian border with Belarus from illegal migrants, the Lithuanian Ministry of Interior reports.
Frontex Director Fabrice Leggeri intends to visit Lithuania in July to study the situation on the ground. Leggeri said that the security agency would help Lithuania secure the border and the return of illegal migrants.
“We are eager to support Lithuania – it’s a demonstration of European solidarity,” the Frontex head said.
Thirty Frontex workers will soon arrive in Lithuania to help Lithuanian border guards guard the border with Belarus.
Lithuanian Interior Ministry notes that the border guards on the Belarusian section of the border are also assisted by the Public Security Service and the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union.
According to the Ministry of Interior, a total of 508 illegal migrants have tried to enter Lithuania through the Belarusian border this year – twice as many as in the past three years (2018, 2019, 2020) combined.
Lithuania accuses official Minsk of Belarusian border guards facilitating illegal migration to Europe. Presidential adviser Asta Skaisgirite and Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite previously said that Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime was thus waging a hybrid war on Lithuania and pressuring the country.
During a speech in Brest on June 22, Lukashenka threatened that he would not stop illegal migration to the West and the smuggling of drugs and nuclear materials.
