The Latvian government has extended the Vilkatis operation aimed at combating illegal migration on the country’s eastern border for another month. The decision was made on Sept. 1, the State Border Guard reported. Surveillance of the Latvian-Belarusian border has been stepped up as part of the operation.
“This is Latvia’s targeted and coordinated response to the hybrid threat posed by instrumentalized illegal migration from Belarus. Its aim is to significantly reduce the number of illegal border crossings in eastern Latvia and prevent similar cases in the future”, the agency said.
The operation began on Aug. 11 and was initially due to end in September. Given the damage to border infrastructure caused by the storm on Aug. 22-23 and the situation with illegal border crossings, a decision was made to extend the security operation.
According to the Latvian authorities, the migration pressure is caused by Belarus’ “instrumentalization” of migration.
Since the start of the operation, four people suspected of transporting migrants have been detained in Latvia, while illegal border crossings by more than 600 people have been prevented. In addition, border guards discovered and dismantled two tunnels that were being used to facilitate illegal border crossings from Belarus.
A total of 10,436 illegal border crossings have been prevented this year. A total of 131 criminal cases have been opened over the illegal transportation of people across the border and the organization of such activities.
The operation is coordinated by the Crisis Management Center of Latvia’s State Chancellery. The State Border Guard, State Police and National Armed Forces are taking part. The military and Zemessardze volunteer defense force patrol the border and carry out surveillance, logistics and engineering work. Border guards and police are using ground-penetrating radar to scan the soil along the border with Belarus. They are seeking to detect changes in the soil structure that could indicate underground objects or cavities.
