The European Commission approves the allocation of 37 million euros to Lithuania to resolve the crisis with migrants

The European Commission has approved the allocation of 36.7 million euros to Lithuania for the management of the migration situation. About it it says in the statement of the department.

These funds will become an emergency aid to improve the reception capacity in Lithuania of “an extremely large number of people illegally crossing the Lithuanian-Belarusian border.” The European Commission explained that the money will go to primary care, medical care, isolation options in cases of COVID-19, vaccines, shelter, food, clothing and hygiene kits. The EC envisions the additional funding to also strengthen teams that identify potential victims of trafficking and provide assistance to those in need of international protection.

The decision to Brussels follows a visit to Lithuania in early August by an EC member for internal affairs, Ilva Johanson, and a recent visit by other EC officials to assess the situation of migrants.

Since the beginning of the year, over 4.1 thousand illegal migrants have been caught on the border of Lithuania and Belarus. This is 50 times more than in the entire last year. The Lithuanian military is involved in border protection.

Last night in a temporary camp for migrants near the village of Rudninkai riots occurred… Illegal migrants broke the fence, and a group of people managed to escape. Lithuanian law enforcement officers detained a total of 20 escaped migrants. In total, the camp near the village of Rudninkai contains about 400 illegal immigrants who came to Lithuania from the territory of Belarus. Initially, the authorities wanted to place up to 1,500 migrants at the landfill, despite the fact that about 500 people live in the village itself. Residents held several protests, and as a result, the authorities decided to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who would be placed in the camp. Now it is expected that there will be about 800 of them.

Lithuanian authorities statedthat the riots near the parliament building in Vilnius and in the migrant camp in Rudininkai are an organized and coordinated action. The country’s interior minister, Agne Bilotaite, described the event as anti-state activity and a hybrid attack.