Latvia declared a state of emergency on the border with Belarus on Tuesday (August 10). Lithuanian legislators approved the construction of fences to prevent the influx of illegal immigrants.
In the past 24 hours, about 200 migrants crossed the border from Belarus into Latvia, a member of the European Union and NATO with a population of 1.9 million.
“The state of emergency means that the border between Latvia and Belarus will actually be closed to everyone,” Latvian Prime Minister Kris Yanis Kalins said in the Cabinet of Ministers who approved the state of emergency to last from Wednesday to November 10.
In neighboring Lithuania, the parliament passed a law on Tuesday giving the green light to build a fence on its border with Belarus.
According to the BNS agency, the law gives the project a high degree of national priority and relaxes certain restrictions, such as bidding rules.
“We must establish a solid and reliable border with Belarus as soon as possible…” Interior Minister Anebilotet said, noting that the law will halve the construction time of the 152 million euro barrier.
Brussels accused the Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately encouraging the new arrivals of unauthorized, mainly Iraqi immigrants, in retaliation for increasingly severe sanctions against his regime.
Lithuania has provided strong support and asylum to the Belarusian opposition. Since the beginning of this year, more than 4,000 people have entered the country from Belarus and the repatriation of immigrants has begun this week.
Poland, which borders Belarus, reported that 349 migrants have arrived since Friday.
Also on Tuesday, the European Union stated that, at the request of the European Union and Lithuania, Iraq’s suspension of flights to Belarus resulted in a “significant reduction” in immigration.
EU ministers will discuss this issue next week.
