MINSK, August 6. /TASS/. Belarus’ border guards have taken all necessary measures to prevent Lithuania’s provocations and illegal entry into the republic, spokesman for the Belarusian State Border Committee, Anton Bychkovsky, told TASS on Friday.
"In view of the situation, when the Lithuanian side keeps on bringing to our border foreigners seeking asylum in the European Union countries and in order to prevent Lithuania’s provocations, the border guard agencies have consolidated their forces to avoid illegal crossings of the Belarusian border," he said.
"Mobile tactical reserves of border groups and detachments equipped for this assignment are deployed along the entire section of the state border with Lithuania," he noted.
In response to the European Union’s anti-Belarusian sanctions, Minsk said in June it was suspending its commitments under the readmission agreement with the European Union, which binds Minsk to receive back illegal migrants who enter the European Union from Belarus’ territory. As many as 4,112 illegal migrants have been detained at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border since the beginning of 2021, which is 50 times as many as in 2020.
Lithuania and the European Union are accusing Minsk of tolerating illegal migration. Belarus rejects these accusations. Instead, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has accused certain countries of not letting migrants to their territories and "returning half-dead people to Belarus."