Lithuania returned 180 people to Belarus after accusations that Minsk helps illegal migrants to cross the border

Since midnight, about 180 illegal migrants who intended to cross the state border from Belarus have not been allowed into Lithuania. About it informs Delphi.

According to the head of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, Rustamas Lyubayevas, the border guards were empowered to deploy illegal migrants trying to get to Lithuania on the basis of the information given by the Minister of Internal Affairs Agne Bilotaite orders.

According to Lyubaevas, the migrants were deployed along the entire Lithuanian-Belarusian border, mainly in the vicinity of Varena.

Earlier today it became known that the Lithuanian authorities suspected border guards of Belarus in helping illegal immigrants wishing to cross the border. Employees of the European Union agency for the security of external borders Frontex, who help Lithuanian border guards to patrol the border, filmed a group of illegal immigrants who were accompanied by a car of the Belarusian department. The video footage shows a group of people walking one after another, and a car is moving behind them.

As noted by Delfi, this year more than 4,000 migrants from Belarus crossed the border. Their number has increased dramatically in recent weeks, sometimes overnight, Lithuanian border guards detain more than 100 people. Last Sunday, the Lithuanian border service detained 289 people who crossed the border illegally. This is a record figure for the entire 2021.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Shimonyte said that this is “hybrid aggression” by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Vilnius believes that he is taking revenge on Lithuania for its tough position in relation to the Belarusian regime, which is accused of repression. In early July, the Lithuanian government introduced a state of emergency in the country due to the large influx of illegal migrants from the territory of Belarus.

At the end of May, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, in response to European sanctions due to the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane, announced that Minsk would no longer help Western states control drug trafficking and illegal migration on the border with Belarus.