MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2021) The European border agency, Frontex, on Monday launched an operation to help Lithuania strengthen its border with Belarus to control the growing migration pressure.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said earlier in the day that the EU should consider imposing additional sanctions against Belarus, as Lithuania is faced with unprecedented influx of migrants who are reaching the country "with the help from the Belarusian government." The inflow of undocumented migrants prompted Lithuania to declare a state of emergency in early July.
"The situation at Lithuania's border with Belarus remains worrying. I have decided to send a rapid border intervention to Lithuania to strengthen EU's external border," the Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri said as quoted in the agency's statement.
Frontex will send border guards, patrol cars and specialists who can conduct interview with migrants "to gather information on criminal networks involved," Leggeri said.
More than 1,600 undocumented migrants have crossed into Lithuania from Belarus since the start of the year, compared to 81 in the entire 2020.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that his country has been too exhausted by the EU sanctions to stem the influx of migrants to EU countries.
