Lithuania closed two new border checkpoints with Russia's ally Belarus on Friday, citing threats to national security.
“We have taken measures to restrict the movement of people, goods and transport, with four of the six border checkpoints with Belarus now closed
,” Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite told AFP.
Lithuania closed the first two border crossings with Belarus last year.
“The precarious neighborhood of Russia, which launched military aggression in Ukraine, and its ally Belarus, whose undemocratic regime has used migrants as a tool of political pressure against Lithuania, makes it necessary to take security measures "
, she said, indicating that Lithuania was witnessing, on its soil,
"an increase in the activity of the Belarusian and Russian intelligence services"
.
Now two checkpoints operate with this country, but they will be subject to new restrictions prohibiting the movement of pedestrians and cyclists.
Unprecedented illegal immigration
According to Lithuanian border guards, almost 390,000 Belarusian citizens crossed the border last year, about 50% more than in 2022. Most of these Belarusians had EU travel documents issued by Poland , according to border guards.
Relations between Lithuania and Minsk deteriorated after the 2020 presidential election in Belarus which ensured a new mandate for the country's strongman, Alexander Lukashenko.
Since then, Lithuania has welcomed Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, the rival of Alexander Lukashenko, as well as other opponents and tens of thousands of other Belarusian citizens.
Last year, Lithuanian intelligence services warned that members of the Belarusian diaspora were being recruited by that country's KGB while traveling between the two countries and on social media.
In 2021, Lithuania, along with Poland and Latvia, faced an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants from Belarus, with thousands of people - mainly from the Middle East and Africa - managing to cross the border.
The West has accused the Lukashenko regime and Moscow of orchestrating the influx.