Masked gunmen threaten Latvian troops on Belarus border
Migrants' guides threatened Latvian troops at the border with Belarus (photo: Getty Images)
Latvian troops stopped a group of at least 20 illegal migrants at the border with Belarus this week. Their guides were wearing masks, carrying weapons, and threatening the soldiers, according to Latvia's National Armed Forces.
The Latvian military says the migrants' crossing from Belarus may have been deliberately organized. The guides pushed the group toward Latvia while threatening the soldiers.
Unlike many previous incidents, the guides were particularly demonstrative and aggressive this time.
Latvia's armed forces believe illegal migration is being used as a tool to put pressure on the country's external border and, by extension, on the EU and NATO. The military expects similar provocations and hybrid threats along the Belarusian border to continue.
The army will continue assisting border guards along the borders with Belarus and Russia.
The migration crisis along Belarus' borders with the EU began in the summer of 2021, when Lukashenko's regime began sending large numbers of migrants from the Middle East toward Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. The situation has periodically escalated since then. In late July, migrants on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border attacked a border guard and tried to drag him into Belarus. He suffered minor injuries.
Meanwhile, Moscow has responded with threats. In late September, the Russian Embassy in Ireland threatened NATO with nuclear weapons if the Kaliningrad region were blockaded. At the same time, Russian diplomats called allegations that Moscow was preparing to invade European countries or waging hybrid warfare unfounded.
