Latvia’s government has decided to close one of its two border crossing points with Belarus as the prime minister accused Minsk of again using illegal migrants as a hybrid threat to undermine the Baltic state’s security. With internal instability at stake, external solidarity is shut down.

In 2021, Latvia, Poland, and Lithuania faced an immigration crisis when thousands of people, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, began crossing from Belarus. The three countries, all members of NATO and the European Union, eventually resorted to pushing the migrants back, a policy that remains in place.

Poland and Lithuania have fenced their borders with Belarus and the new Latvian government has pledged to finish its own fence by the end of the year.

Belarus is a close ally of Russia. It allowed Russian armed forces to use its territory as a staging post to invade Ukraine, Belarus’ southern neighbor, in early 2022. In May this year, Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Meanwhile, NATO members Estonia and Latvia have signed a contract for a joint purchase of the German medium-range air defense system IRIS-T for 400 million euros ($430 million), Reuters reported.