„We are assessing all the needs they have expressed – what they would like, and how much we can help. But my priority, as minister, is the security of our borders, and it is not the case that our border guards are sitting at home doing nothing, just waiting for something until we can send them somewhere. We are using the resources that we would normally use to protect our own border. We are simply assessing where we can redeploy them to assist Latvia, and we hope to find ways to do so,“ the minister of the interior told ELTA on Wednesday.
Latvia has recently been under significant pressure from irregular migration from Belarus. In response, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (VSAT) has twice sent groups of border guards on assistance missions. On both occasions, nine border guards were sent to Latvia – they are helping our neighbours to secure the border.
However, Latvian Minister for the Interior Janis Dombrava, who was visiting Lithuania last week, told LRT television that he would expect Lithuania to send assistance in the form of around a hundred officers.
Susiję straipsniai
According to Katelynas, Lithuania will look for ways to help its neighbour. However, the minister said that the country must also take measures itself – for example, by deploying military forces.
„The figure of 100 border guards was mentioned. If 100 are really needed to solve the problem, the Latvians could deploy their own military for peacetime tasks and make use of their capacity to help. But we are exploring all options and possibilities to help them, so that this problem can be resolved as quickly as possible,“ he emphasised.
As reported by ELTA, during a meeting last week with Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda stated that the reintroduction of internal border controls within the Schengen Area would be a setback in the fight against illegal migration. In his view, it is more important to strengthen the protection of the European Union’s (EU) external borders.
Latvia shares a border approximately 172 kilometres long with Belarus, a close ally of Russia. The Baltic state accuses Belarus’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, of deliberately directing migrants towards the EU’s external border to put pressure on the bloc.
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have consequently stepped-up border security and erected border fences.
Last year, VSAT officers prevented more than 1,600 people from entering Lithuania illegally from Belarus at unauthorised crossing points; this year, the figure stands at 957.
In total, 25,500 irregular migrants have been denied entry to Lithuania since the start of the migration crisis triggered by Belarus.