Migrants at the Lithuanian border: “Your destination is Germany”

The refugee situation in Lithuania is still tense. While the parliament in Vilnius wants to have a fence built on the border with Belarus, the EU Commission is promising money for humanitarian aid.

Refugees are waiting in tent camps near the border with Belarus. There are many men from Iraq, Syria, Iran and North Africa. The situation is tense. They have been held here for weeks without cell phones, papers or money, they report.

Clas Oliver Richter
ARD studio Stockholm

How did the men get across the border into Lithuania? Many say that they were flown from Baghdad to Minsk and then taken to the border. And now they are waiting in camps behind high fences.

Already rejected 1000 people

Lithuania has to process 4,000 asylum applications, which takes time. After all: for a few days now, fewer, almost no refugees have crossed the border. The Lithuanian measures have had an effect, believes Zydrunas Vaikasas, head of the border guard in Poskonys:

Since August 3rd we have been doing what the Interior Minister told us: if illegal migrants enter Lithuania and thus the EU, we first warn them that it is not legal. If they keep trying, then we should physically push the men back. However, I emphasize only the men.

Around 1,000 people have already been sent back to Belarus in this way.

Border fence is to be built

Now parliament has also decided to build a border fence. It will take at least a year for the barrier, which is hundreds of kilometers long, to be completed. Therefore, the Lithuanian military should now support the border guards in the short term. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte emphasizes that it is not a military operation:

These are not military tasks, they are peaceful measures. I cannot say how the other side perceives this, but our position is very clear: it is the military’s job to keep the peace and to help the border guards do their jobs.

Poland and Latvia also report border crossings

By the other side, Simonyte means the regime in Belarus, which could perceive the presence of the military on the border as a provocation. However, it is inevitable that the Lithuanian border guards urgently need support. That is why the country is now also offering intensive training, and the graduates can work in border guards after four weeks. So far, this training has lasted at least two years.

Illegal migrants also cross the border in the two neighboring countries of Poland and Latvia. A state of emergency has now been declared in Latvia. This means that the border guards there – as in Lithuania – can send back illegal migrants, if necessary by force.

Vilnius calls for EU aid for border protection

In Lithuania they would like more support from Brussels than before to secure the EU’s eastern border. After all, important work is being done here for the entire European Union, says Laurynas Kasciunas, Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Defense:

We know that the refugees’ destination is not Lithuania, but Germany or other countries in Western Europe. We are stopping them here and thus doing our part to protect the external border of the European Union.

In Lithuania, it is believed that there could be 5,000 more migrants in Belarus whose aim is to cross the border.

Brussels promises almost 37 million euros

In Brussels one does not want to stand idly by the situation. The EU Commission announced that Lithuania would receive emergency aid amounting to 36.7 million euros from the Fund for Asylum, Migration and Integration.

The money should not be used for the construction of the border fence, according to the authority, but is intended for reception facilities, medical care, corona quarantine rooms as well as clothing and food. In addition, the money is used to finance special teams to identify possible victims of human trafficking and to help those in need of protection.