Migrant crisis erupts as Russia ally buses men into EU country | World | News
Latvia says this image shows a Belarusian service member posing with migrants in a military vehicle (Image: Latvia Ministry of Defence)
Belarus has been accused of pushing migrants across its border with Latvia in a bid to destabilise the country. The Latvian Ministry of Defence on Thursday (January 15) said intelligence gathered by the country’s armed forces and border guard confirmed Belarus had directed “illegal migrants” towards Latvia.
Riga accused Minsk of transporting migrants in military vehicles to the border and alleged Belarusian officials helped to organise attempted crossings. It said Latvian border guards had found documents and communications equipment belonging to a Belarusian service member on one of the migrants seized trying to cross.
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Latvia says officials seized comms equipment from migrants belonging to a Belarusian (Image: Latvia Ministry of Defence)
Latvia’s Ministry of Defence said checks concluded the items belonged to a member of the reconnaissance battalion of the 19th Guards Mechanised Infantry Brigade, stationed in the Vitebsk region of north Belarus.
Mobiles also seized from migrants contained images of officials from Belarus’s State Border Committee posing with would-be border crossers, according to the Ministry.
Latvian defence officials said illegal migrants were being used as spies, gathering intelligence and acting as “hybrid threats”.
The Ministry said in a statement: “The National Armed Forces and the State Border Guard regularly record manifestations of electronic warfare originating from the territory of the Republic of Belarus, affecting the operation of communication and navigation systems in the border area.”
Belarus’s Ministry of Defence has long denied any active involvement in pushing migrants over the border, but Latvia’s latest claims appear to cast doubt on that assertion.
Latvia said its armed forces, state border guard and police have teamed up since 2021 to secure its borders.
The Baltic state, which also shares borders with Estonia, Lithuania and Russia, warned those enabling illegal border crossings risked aiding hostile states bent on spying or sabotaging Latvia and other European countries.
Latvia’s claims against Belarus come after border guards in Poland uncovered a tunnel which was used by 180 migrants to enter the EU country.
Polish border officials found the tunnel on December 11 last year, not far from Narewka, which is about 7.5 miles from Belarus.
In total, 130 of the 180 migrants who crossed on that day were detained by Polish authorities.
The Border Guard said the tunnel was the fourth to be discovered in 2025 in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, where Narewka is located.
Warsaw and Brussels accuse Minsk and Moscow of waging a “hybrid war” since at least 2021 by sending migrants over the border.
Belarus denies any such involvement, with the country’s dictator, Alexandr Lukashenko, blaming organised crime networks operating inside the European Union.
