(updated) The border between Latvia and Belarus has been closed “due to technical reasons.” Latvian Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava announced this on the evening of July 31.
“The Latvian-Belarusian border has been closed due to technical reasons. We urge everyone who has not yet returned to Latvia to use alternative routes,” Dombrava wrote on Facebook.
Yesterday, July 30, the Latvian interior minister urged citizens not to plan trips to Belarus and called on those currently there to return to Latvia.
“Safe travel between the two countries may become more difficult in the context of hybrid warfare conducted by Belarus,” he warned yesterday.
In recent weeks, the number of migrants attempting to enter Latvia illegally across the Belarusian-Latvian border has increased. Dozens of attempted illegal crossings are recorded every day.
updated at 10:15 p.m.
A representative of the Latvian State Border Guard, Kristīne Petersone, said the border had been closed because of a failure in the information systems at the Pāternieki border crossing, Delfi reported.
The cause of the failure and the timeframe for resolving the problem are not yet known, she added.
