According to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Belarus is “arming” illegal immigration from Iraq and Syria to be sent across the border to Lithuania. Gabrielius Landsbergis told the Financial Times that Belarus is engaged in a “hybrid attack against Europe” by attracting migrants with packages of agreements through the state tourist agency Tsentrkurort, with flights from Baghdad or Istanbul. This year, Lithuania detained almost twice as many migrants crossing the border from Belarus as in the previous three years. “This is a migration that is aimed directly at Lithuania. The reason? It’s pretty easy to guess. Let us be blunt, let us take refuge in the main opposition leaders [from Belarus]“, Landsbergis said. Since the beginning of June, according to Prime Minister Simonyte, there have been more than 1,000 irregular crossings detected along the 680 km (420 mi) border shared by Lithuania and Belarus. In 2020 there were 81. That is why the Baltic country will send delegations to Turkey and Iraq at the end of this month to discuss this issue with local governments. So what sort of emergency at the door of Europe?

Lithuania has been on high alert since Belarus last month forced the landing of a Ryanair plane from Athens to Vilnius and then kidnapped dissident Roman Protasevich, who was living in exile in the Baltic country. In June, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened that his country might ease some border controls, while tensions with the West increased. Franak Viacorka, the adviser to Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is in exile in Lithuania, told the FT that Lukashenko’s approach is not surprising, since “…Lukashenko’s task right now is to take revenge“.

“We need to be very vigilant“, Landsbergis added. The reference to countries accused of using migration as a mass weapon, as in 2015-16 when thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria, crossed the borders of the Arctic Circle from Russia to enter Norway or Finland. Lithuania will then build a barrier on the border with Belarus, patrolled by the army, to discourage migrants and refugees from arriving from the neighboring country.