Armed, masked individuals on the Belarusian side of the border confronted Latvian National Armed Forces soldiers as they guided 20 migrants towards Latvia, in what Latvian officials described as an attempt to cross illegally. The individuals remained across the border while pushing and directing the group towards the crossing, and threatened the soldiers during the encounter.
Janis Dombrava, Latvia’s interior minister, said Latvian soldiers stopped the group of 20 migrants from entering the country.
Several hours later, masked individuals entered Latvian territory, damaged an electrical distribution panel and stole surveillance cameras positioned to monitor the border. They had returned to Belarus before border guards arrived.
Dombrava demanded accountability for the armed threat against the National Armed Forces. He said: 'Belarus should understand that incidents like these could have more serious consequences for Belarus itself'.
The incident comes after a surge in attempted illegal entries into Europe along the Belarus-EU border in 2021. The EU sanctioned Belarus that year for its instrumentalisation of migrants.
European authorities have previously blamed Belarus for using migrants as a tool, alleging that officials deliberately steer people to the border in a state-orchestrated campaign. Border guards regularly prevent migrants from entering Latvian and Lithuanian territory from Belarus.
Security concerns have also extended to the air. On 15 September, NATO forces shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus after it flew over Lentvaris near Vilnius. It was brought down near Kaunas.
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