According to preliminary data of the State Border Guard Service of Lithuania, over the last day, the border guards have detained 171 migrants who illegally crossed the border from Belarus.
The total number of migrants illegally crossing the Belarusian-Lithuanian border in 2021 has exceeded 3 thousand, which is 35 times more than in the whole year of 2020.
All detainees introduced themselves as Iraqi citizens or had documents of Iraqi citizens. The detained foreigners will be tested for COVID-19, writes DELFI.LT. They will be isolated until the results are known.
Most of the migrants are trying to get through Lithuania to the countries of Western Europe.
Lithuania has accused the Belarusian border guards of ignoring the trespassers. The Lithuanians claim that their Belarusian colleagues do not contribute to their work. The neighboring country has strengthened the border security and even installed barbed wire along the 5 km section, while there are plans to install more than 20 km of barbed wire.
On July 27, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the state of emergency due to the influx of migrants into Lithuania could be imposed only as a last resort. Now, he sees no need for it. He called Lukashenka’s regime responsible for the migrant crisis on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border.
