The European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex will send additional contingent and helicopters to Lithuania to work on the border with Belarus.

This was announced by the President of the Baltic Republic Gitanas Nauseda.

According to him, the reason for this step is the increase in the number of illegal migrants who are trying to get to Lithuania through the border with Belarus.

“Together with the head of Frontex Fabrice Ledgerie, we discussed the upcoming dispatch of additional forces to strengthen control at the Lithuanian borders, to ensure monitoring and control (the situation with. -

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) of the traffic of illegal migrants across the eastern border of the EU: border guards, translators, border patrols, helicopters,” wrote Nauseda on Twitter.

Earlier, on July 7, Prime Minister of the Baltic Republic Ingrida Shimonyte announced that Lithuania would begin construction of a physical barrier on the border with Belarus.

According to her, this should become a deterrent for organizers of illegal migration flows.

Simonyte also announced that the army would be used to patrol the border.

  • Gitanas Nauseda

  • AFP

  • © Olivier HOSLET / POOL

On July 10, it became known that Vilnius intends to spend € 42 million on strengthening the border with Belarus, including on a surveillance system.

This was reported by the German media group RND with reference to the Ambassador of Lithuania to Germany Ramunas Misyulis.

As the diplomat noted, the EU shares Lithuania's concern, therefore Frontex plans to send 30 border guards from the department and several cars to the republic.

A statement published on July 10 on the Frontex website says: “Due to the growing migration pressure on the border between Lithuania and Belarus, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex will significantly increase its support to Lithuania next week”.

It is noted that the European Permanent Corps is already providing assistance to the country in the field of border control and surveillance, and the scale of the operation, which began with the dispatch of a dozen corps personnel and patrol cars, will more than double.

In addition, the agency will provide Lithuania with experts who will assist the country's authorities in collecting data on cases of illegal border crossing and will facilitate the exchange of operational information.

“We are ready to increase the level of support and redeploy more staff of the European permanent corps, as well as equipment.

We are increasing the pace and intensity of the measures already planned.

In addition, in close cooperation with the Lithuanian authorities, we are preparing Operation Rapid Border Intervention, ”said Frontex CEO Fabrice Ledgerie.

"People are fleeing from war"

Let us remind you that Lithuania has recently reported an increase in the number of illegal migrants who enter the country across the border with Belarus.

In this regard, on July 2, the country's authorities declared an emergency situation at the request of the Lithuanian border guard service.

As the deputy commander of the border service Vidas Machaitis noted, the flows of migrants are constantly growing, which creates problems for the department and the whole country as a whole.

In turn, the head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Gabrielyus Landsbergis said that the situation is tense and tends to deteriorate.

According to the Lithuanian authorities, since the beginning of 2021, 1,634 migrants have been detained on the border with Belarus, among whom most are immigrants from Iraq (680), Congo (200), Cameroon (118), Guinea (82) and Iran (68).

At the same time, since the beginning of July, a monthly record for the number of migrants detained at the border has already been set - 973. For comparison, in June 473 illegal immigrants were detained, in May - 77, and in March - only eight people.

Over the entire 2020, 81 refugees were detained at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border.

  • Tent camp for migrants in Lithuania

  • Reuters

  • © Ints Kalnins

To receive migrants in the Lithuanian city of Pabrade, a tent camp was set up at the Foreigners Registration Center, designed for 350 people.

In Lithuania, they believe that the authorities of Belarus are to blame for the current situation.

According to Gabrielus Landsbergis, this is how Minsk responds to the EU sanctions.

The presence of a problem on the border is also recognized by the authorities of Belarus, but they reject accusations against them.

“If they (the collective West and various financial institutions. -

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) stop financing various mutually beneficial projects in Belarus, impose sanctions, even industry-specific ... stricter border security, we will transfer to the needs of ordinary people, ”said the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Makei in an interview with RT.

President Alexander Lukashenko also commented on the situation.

According to him, Minsk has always been responsible for fulfilling its obligations to combat illegal migration.

He noted that the republic will continue to do this, but "just as much as necessary, is beneficial" for Belarus and as much as it is "financially possible."

  • Alexander Lukashenko

  • Reuters

  • © Press Service of the President of the Republic of Belarus / Handout

Lukashenka also said that the EU itself is partly to blame for the current situation, whose policy favors the influx of migrants.

“We will never keep anyone: they are not coming to us.

They go to an enlightened, warm, comfortable Europe ... And secondly, they have destroyed these countries.

They practically destroyed Afghanistan and pulled out the troops ... People are fleeing from the war, and are fleeing to where they were invited.

The European Union has introduced the appropriate benefits for those who arrive there, ”Lukashenka said during a meeting on countering the sanctions measures.

He also noted that he would not allow turning Belarus into a haven for illegal migrants.

“If someone thinks that we will now close the border with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine and turn into a settler for refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, then he is simply mistaken at least,” the head of Belarus concluded. ...

"Deadlock in bilateral relations"

According to analysts, the problem with the flow of illegal migrants who are trying to get through Belarus to Lithuania, and then to other EU countries, has existed for several years.

But earlier, within the framework of bilateral cooperation between Minsk and Vilnius, it was possible to stop it.

However, after last year's presidential elections in Belarus, Lithuania did everything to destroy relations between the two countries, experts say.

As a reminder, Alexander Lukashenko won the 2020 elections with 80.1% of the vote.

His main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya received 10.1% of the vote.

The opposition did not recognize the election results and brought its supporters to the streets.

These actions were supported by the European Union, which then introduced several packages of sanctions against Minsk.

  • Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

  • AFP

  • © PETRAS MALUKAS

At the same time, Lithuania has become one of the most active supporters of the sanctions pressure on Belarus.

Vilnius did not recognize Lukashenko's victory and, in a joint statement with other Baltic countries, called on Minsk to hold new elections.

In addition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya moved to Lithuania after her defeat in the elections.

There, as experts remind, she actually placed her headquarters and, with the support of local authorities, is actively involved in political activities, urging Belarusians to go to rallies against the current authorities.

At the same time, Tikhanovskaya's office received official diplomatic status in Lithuania.

And on Sunday, July 11, the Prosecutor General of Belarus Andrei Shved said that Vilnius had refused to extradite the ex-presidential candidate to Minsk, who is involved in a number of criminal cases and is included in the list of persons involved in terrorist activities.

According to political analysts, Lithuania's provocative actions could not but lead to retaliatory measures from Belarus.

Thus, Minsk has already suspended the transit of oil products through the Klaipeda port.

In these conditions, analysts say, it would be strange for Belarus to maintain the same level of cooperation with Lithuania in the issue of border control.

“Border protection presupposes bilateral interaction.

The agencies of both countries cooperate, work together to suppress violations.

It used to be the same on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border.

But after Lithuania began to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus, everything changed.

What kind of cooperation can we talk about if Vilnius does not even recognize Lukashenka’s power?

How can they then conduct a dialogue with the border guards subordinate to him? "

- said Nikolai Mezhevich, chief researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a conversation with RT.

The editor-in-chief of the Rubaltic.ru portal Sergey Rekeda adheres to a similar position.

“Previously, such problems were resolved in the course of a direct dialogue between the authorities of Lithuania and Belarus.

But now Lithuania itself has deprived itself of the opportunity to resolve these issues bilaterally, because it did not recognize the results of the elections in Belarus.

Vilnius is actually waging an information and diplomatic war against Minsk.

Of course, there is no room for cooperation here, "said the interlocutor of RT.

  • Border of Lithuania and Belarus

  • Reuters

  • © Ints Kalnins

At the same time, he doubted the effectiveness of the assistance that the EU intends to provide to Lithuania.

“The effectiveness of these measures is rather questionable.

For example, the Lithuanian authorities admit that they will not be able to build a wall along the entire length of the border.

In general, the very idea of ​​a wall as a barrier for migrants is highly questionable, ”Rekeda said.

In turn, Nikolai Mezhevich noted that the current situation should be of greater concern to Brussels than to Vilnius, since for migrants Lithuania is only an intermediate point on the way to more prosperous European countries.

“Lithuania is not particularly attractive for migrants because the standard of living there is too low.

The end point is most likely Sweden or Germany, and possibly France, ”says the analyst.

At the same time, political analysts believe that the crisis on the border is unlikely to force Lithuania to change its position in relation to the Belarusian authorities.

“I don’t think this problem can change the policy of Vilnius.

This is a dead end in bilateral relations.

For Lithuania, apparently, it is much more important to fulfill its geopolitical function of pressure on Belarus as an ally of Russia than to solve the migration issue, ”concluded Sergei Rekeda.