On Friday, 10 February, Minister for the Interior Māris Kučinskis met with Lithuanian Minister for the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė in Vilnius.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed cooperation in the field of strengthening security, with a particular focus on the situation on the Latvian-Belarusian and Lithuanian-Belarusian borders.
M. Kučinskis stressed the importance of coordinating the actions of our countries, especially at a time when the Russian-led war in Ukraine has been going on for almost a year and elements of hybrid warfare are being intensively used against Latvia and Lithuania by the aggressor countries - Russia and Belarus - to organize the smuggling of migrants from different countries of origin into the two Baltic States.
“It is no secret that those illegal migrants who are stopped from entering Latvia by our State border guards are often taken to the Lithuanian border by the Belarusian services the same night, creating challenges for the Lithuanian border guards. Not only vigilant border guards, but also continuous coordination between Latvia and Lithuania in this area makes it possible to ensure that so-called weak points do not develop on the border, which would be immediately used by aggressor countries to pursue their hybrid war aims. Yes, our responsible services are coping with relentless attempts to cross our borders illegally, but this would not be possible without our joint action: coordinated cooperation between Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish border guards is crucial,” said the Latvian Minister of the Interior.
Attention was also paid to strengthening civil protection and crisis management.
During the visit, M. Kučinskis also visited the Lithuanian-Belarusian border and familiarized himself with the activities of the border observation centre.
Prepared by:
Andrejs Vaivars
Advisor to the Minister for the Interior
Phone: +371 67829685
E-mail: andrejs.vaivars@iem.gov.lv