The Lithuanian Interior Ministry, represented by Agnė Bilotaitė, revealed that the number of irregular migrants entering Lithuania from Latvia has increased substantially this

year, with a twentyfold rise compared to the previous year's figures. This issue was discussed in a phone call between Bilotaitė and her Latvian counterpart, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis.

According to data from the Defence Ministry, from the beginning of the year until September 25, a total of 822 third-country nationals were detained in Lithuania after crossing the border from Latvia. This marks a significant increase compared to the same period last year.

Bilotaitė acknowledged Lithuania's efforts to enhance state border protection, leading to a decrease in illegal border crossing attempts. However, she expressed concern about the rising trend of secondary migration flows originating from Latvia.

In response to the situation, both ministers discussed potential measures to address this issue and agreed to strengthen cooperation between their respective law enforcement authorities for managing irregular migration.

Currently, the Lithuanian and Latvian border services work together to return irregular migrants detained in Lithuania to Latvia within a 72-hour timeframe.

The Lithuanian Interior Ministry also confirmed its commitment to assist Latvia in protecting its border with Belarus. Recently, a new team of 20 Lithuanian border guards was dispatched to Latvia to replace the 17 border guards who had been stationed there for the past two weeks.

As of this year, Lithuania has successfully prevented over 1,700 border crossings, while Latvia has stopped over 9,000 irregular border crossings. Lithuania has already implemented physical barriers and surveillance systems along a significant portion of its border with Belarus. Photo by  Algirts, Wikimedia commons.