EU to send helicopters to Lithuania to control border with Belarus

The European Border and Coastline Agency Frontex will send helicopters and additional patrols to Lithuania to strengthen control on the border with Belarus due to the influx of illegal migrants. About it stated Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda following talks with Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri.

Also, translators and specialists in work with migrants will be sent to the country.

The agency will also provide Lithuania with experts to assist in collecting data on illegal border crossings.

Earlier, Alexander Lukashenko said that the republic will no longer restrain illegal migrants to the EU countries – because of the sanctions of the West, Minsk has “neither money nor strength” for this. He also said that the European Union is trying to turn Belarus into a “settler” for migrants. By this, Lukashenka explained the negative reaction of the EU to the decision of Minsk to suspend the readmission agreement after the sectoral economic sanctions by Brussels.

On June 17, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite has already announced plans to erect a fence with barbed wire or an alarm system along the border. The country’s authorities estimated the cost of one kilometer of the wall at 30 thousand euros. “Besides, it is necessary to integrate video cameras, sensors and so on along the fence. Their installation on one kilometer of the border will cost 130 thousand euros, ”the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania said.

The length of the border between Lithuania and Belarus is 678.8 kilometers.