Armed Belarusians cross into Latvia, steal border cameras

On the Belarus-Latvia border this week, a masked armed group tried to force roughly twenty illegal migrants across the frontier and threatened Latvian soldiers, the Latvian broadcaster LSM reports. Latvian servicemen stopped the crossing attempt and detained the migrants.

According to LSM, it was “an especially blatant and aggressive provocation”: the people escorting the migrants were armed, threatened the soldiers and actively drove the group toward the border. A few hours later the same masked armed men came back and this time crossed the border illegally themselves — they stole two surveillance cameras and damaged a switchboard at the crossing point. This was reported by Guntis Pujāts, head of Latvia's State Border Guard.

Pujāts allowed that the attackers might not represent Belarusian state authorities at all, but could instead be members of an organised criminal group taking advantage of the Belarusian authorities' tolerance to smuggle migrants across. Latvia's Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava, quoted by LSM, said: “Belarus should understand that such incidents can also have serious consequences for Belarus itself.”

An escalating hybrid war

Latvia's armed forces said the incident confirms that deliberate provocations and hybrid threats will continue on the Latvian-Belarusian border, with illegal migration being used as a tool to pressure the external borders of Latvia, the European Union and NATO. Pujāts agreed that tensions remain high and that the sabotage is ongoing.

According to Latvian authorities, since the start of the year the country has prevented 11,925 attempts at illegal border crossings from Belarus. That figure has already nearly matched last year's total of 12,046 attempts.

Source: novinky.cz