Representatives of the Belarusian regime also tried to instruct them to oppose the immigrants, namely the Latvian border guards.

Immigrants have put down firearms and currently no incidents of using firearms against Latvian border guards have been detected.

Such cases were detected at the end of last year, but no new cases have been detected in recent months.

“Of course, such incidents increase risks, security risks, and escalation by armed attacks can occur,” Pujāts said.

Pujāts also recalled the already publicized cases of observing cases where representatives of the Belarusian authorities on the other side of the border were armed with weapons not typical for everyday border guards, such as machine guns and sniper rifles.

With the onset of summer, Pujat’s earlier prediction of an increased influx of immigrants came true, but with the NATO summit scheduled for July approaching, there are tangible risks to increased pressure in Vilnius. “The pressure may increase on Lithuania as a judge, but on the whole region. This means not only immigrants, but also other types of attacks, such as cyber attacks against Lithuania,” said Pujāts.

On Thursday, 32 people were prevented from illegally crossing the border between Latvia and Belarus, LETA learned from the State Border Guard.

On the other hand, a total of 3,793 people were prevented from crossing the border illegally this year. 187 people were admitted for humanitarian reasons.

Last year, a total of 5,286 people were prevented from crossing the Latvian-Belarusian border illegally, while 217 people were not prevented from crossing the border for humanitarian reasons.

On 10 August 2021, the government decided to declare a state of emergency in Daugavpils, as well as Ludza and Krāslava counties. It has been extended several times and the final extension is set for 10 August. Previously, it was discussed several times that another arrangement could be made instead of an emergency at the border, but no changes were made afterward.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that the Russian-initiated war against Ukraine and openly supported by Belarus could be considered an additional risk factor and a possible motivation for Belarus to continue its efforts to destabilize the situation on the Latvian border. To put pressure on the European Union (EU) and NATO.

The competent authorities of Lithuania and Poland continue to receive information about the illegal crossing of the state border through the territory of Belarus.