Lithuania announced on Monday August 29 that it had completed the construction of a barrier along its border with Belarus, intended to fight against illegal immigration.
The barrier, in the form of a four-meter fence and barbed wire, stretches about 550 kilometers from a common border of about 700 km. “In all sections, the work is 100% completeLithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte told reporters. On the rest of the border, which crosses swamps, lakes and rivers, it is “technically impossibleto build a physical barrier, she added. In Lithuania, illegal immigration has skyrocketed this year, with around 4,200 migrants – mostly from the Middle East and Africa – managing to cross the border from Belarus. The West has accused the Belarusian regime of orchestrating the influx with its Russian ally, as part of an attack “hybrid“, which Minsk denies.
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Lithuania observes a policy that aims to deny entry to migrants, being accused of enforcing illegal pushbacks. Despite these accusations, Ingrida Simonyte said that her country would continue with this controversial tactic and would study the legal possibilities that would allow it to maintain it even without imposing a state of emergency. However, she admitted, this would be a challenge in the context of international law on this issue. “We will have a lot of work to do in this area“, recognized Ingrida Simonyte.
The number of irregular migrants trying to cross into Lithuania has increased again recently. Last Saturday, border guards refused entry to 125 migrants, the highest number since the start of the year. Lithuanian border guards accuse their Belarusian counterparts of helping migrants enter Lithuania. They “actively participate in the deterioration of the fencenewly built, said Rustamas Liubajevas, head of the Lithuanian border guards. “Since the beginning of July, 95 damage cases have been recorded“, he specified.