Without ruling out the aggravation of the situation, the Latvian army is ready for various development scenarios on the country’s eastern border, State Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Defense Jānis Garisons admitted in an online expert discussion organized by the defense industry portal “Sargs.lv” on Thursday.
Without ruling out the aggravation of the situation, the Latvian army is ready for various development scenarios on the country’s eastern border, State Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Defense Jānis Garisons admitted in an online expert discussion organized by the defense industry portal “Sargs.lv” on Thursday.
What is currently happening on the Latvia-Belarus border shows that, most likely, Belarus does not consciously control what is happening in its territory or is cooperating in this pressure of illegal immigrants.
Latvian society must understand that pressure on the border is a hybrid threat to affect Latvia and “it could be only the first step to something more”. Taking into account the above, the Ministry of Defense carefully monitors what is happening on the border and what is happening in Belarus and Russia in general.
Garrison reminded that since the beginning of the crisis in 2021, the National Armed Forces (NBS) have been monitoring the border more closely together with the border guards. “This could always turn into something bigger, and we have to be very careful to keep an eye on it and be prepared so we don’t miss a moment to prevent a potential threat,” the official stressed.
Since the beginning of the crisis, the necessary plans have been developed between the State Border Guard and NBS. The army is prepared for different scenarios and will send a much larger number of soldiers and national guardsmen if necessary to block the attempts of immigrants to cross the border. Also, in the ambitious exercises “Namejs” that started in September, the focus is on the border to provide support to the border guard.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense, according to its competence, has started to think about military mobility countermeasures, Garrison recalled.
It has already been reported that at the beginning of September, as well as at the end of August, the number of denied migrants from Belarus was over 100 for several days.
In total, 8,168 people have been prevented from illegally crossing the Latvian-Belarusian border this year, while 325 people have been admitted to Latvia for humanitarian reasons.
Last year, a total of 5,286 people were prevented from illegally crossing the Latvian-Belarus border, while 217 people were not prevented from crossing the border due to humanitarian reasons.
In connection with the pressure of illegal immigration, from August 11 to February 10, 2024, in several administrative territories on the border of Belarus, a strengthened operating regime of the border protection system is in effect, which replaced the state of emergency established by the government in August 2021 and repeatedly extended.
Taking into account the rapidly growing hybrid threat on the Latvia-Belarus border, the State Border Guard has mobilized additional border guards on duty to strengthen the protection of the external border. The border guard has also requested additional support from the National Armed Forces and the State Police.
Taking into account the pressure of illegal immigration realized by Belarus, the Ministry of the Interior has prepared a draft of the government’s decision, which envisages closing the Silene border crossing point on the border with the neighboring country.
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