Vilnius accuses Belarus of facilitating the illegal entry of migrants into Lithuania

RIGA, Oct. 7 (DPA/EP) –

Lithuanian border authorities have accused Belarusian security forces of helping a group of migrants cross the border illegally, thereby entering European Union territory.

The Lithuanian Border Guard has thus echoed a video posted on the social network Facebook that supposedly shows how several armed Belarusian officers escort a group of migrants to the border fence with their neighboring country.

According to the images, the Belarusian officers would have damaged part of the fence to allow the migrants to pass, cutting the barbed wire and opening a gate in the fence.

However, once the group of migrants has managed to enter Lithuania, the border authorities have proceeded to arrest them, at which time the Belarusian military have taken the opportunity to hide behind bushes and, later, flee in a vehicle.

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry already sent a note of complaint to the Belarusian authorities last September, denouncing “repeated cases of deliberate damage” to the fence, built precisely after hundreds of people tried to enter the fence last year. territory of the European Union from Belarus.

The European Union has accused the government of Alexander Lukashenko of having transferred people from the most devastated areas of the country to border territories with member countries of the European bloc in order to pressure the West in response to sanctions against Minsk.

The Vilnius Government responded to that crisis by reinforcing border protection and security, and building a fence nearly 550 kilometers long and four meters high, completed with concertina.