Lithuania is deploying a fresh team of border guards to help Latvia patrol its frontier with Belarus, as one of Lithuania's incoming interior minister, Martynas Katelynas, says he has not ruled out reintroducing border controls with Latvia if migrant numbers continue to rise.
The moves reflect growing frustration in Vilnius over what officials describe as a steady flow of migrants crossing into Latvia from Belarus and then travelling on into Lithuania and beyond, five years after Minsk was first accused of engineering a migration crisis on the European Union's eastern border.
Reinforcements sent to the Belarusian border
Nine Lithuanian officers, including two dog handlers, left on Monday for Latvia, the State Border Guard Service said. Drawn from units normally stationed at Pagėgiai and along the Baltic coast, they will take over from a team that has been patrolling high-risk sections of the Latvia-Belarus border since July 1.
Working under Latvian command, the guards will focus on surveillance in the areas judged most vulnerable to illegal crossings, as well as other general border security tasks. The deployment is due to run for two weeks, after which Lithuania will decide whether further help is needed depending on conditions on the ground.
