Lithuania is reeling from harsh UN criticism: let them negotiate with Lukashenka

“This criticism continues continuously, there are no new things here,” said the Minister of the Interior about another wave of criticism from the UN Agne Bilotaitė.

There have already been so many comments on the policy of turning away migrants that Minister A. Bilotate can only repeat them.

“Our borders are closed, we maintain that position with the Baltic countries, as well as with Poland“, she insisted.

Annika Sandlund, the representative of the UN, representative of the UN Refugee Agency, again criticizes this position. According to her, it is impossible to identify a refugee or an illegal migrant from the face. So he is asking Lithuania to let everyone in. And it also reminds us of the benevolence of Lithuanians towards Ukrainians.

“We would ask Lithuania to allow people to enter the territory. Lithuanian officials have to do their job, they are competent, and determine whether the individuals who come are refugees or migrants, and then there are different options. Let’s face it, you can’t tell from the face,” the UN spokeswoman emphasized.

Chairman of the Seimas National Security and Defense Committee (NSGK), a conservative Laurynas Kasčiūnas LNK told the news that this would actually mean completely open borders.

“And costs, I’m not talking about infrastructure, they don’t even ask themselves such questions. <...> You let them in and they can go wherever they want from here. Because we will not be able to limit their freedom of movement. This basically means open borders,” said the politician.

It is said that the UN blames the wrong party.

“Lithuania has turned to the UN, asking it to pay attention specifically to the problems taking place in Belarus. Because there, the regime somehow gathers those people, organizes them, pushes them to endanger their lives and health”, said the Minister of the Interior, A. Bilotaitė.

L. Kasčiūnas, head of the Seimas NSGK, also had a proposal for the UN representative.

“It’s better to go to A. Lukashenko and talk to him so that he stops this business with people transporters. What does Lithuania have to do with it”, said L. Kasčiūnas.

Not only does Lithuania not intend to consider the UN request, but it is preparing to fence the remaining part of the border with Belarus, where there is currently no fence. These are rivers, lakes, marshy areas. About 100 kilometers in total.

“Recently, we have recorded a number of violations of the state border, specifically in the Čepkelais reserve,” the State Border Guard Service told LNK news (VSAT) commander Rustam Lyubayev.

Only video surveillance cameras are installed in this section. So the migrants who illegally crossed the border used battery saws – they cut the poles with the cameras and disappeared.

“There was an incident a couple of weeks ago when criminals destroyed our infrastructure, it was damaged. And our officers could not react quickly due to the features of the landscape. Because it happened in the swamps”, explained R. Lyubayev.

According to the commander of the border guards, the Latvian example best proves that the physical barrier worked. The flow of migrants in the neighboring country is said to have shifted precisely because the Latvians have not been able to build any border with Belarus so far.

It is true that there will be no such fence in the swampy areas as in other sections. It is technically difficult and extremely expensive. In addition, environmentalists should also have their say.

“The first thing is that we still have concertinas left, there are leftovers. Therefore, we are now assessing what the solutions could be in implementing it. What would be the prices and other things”, Minister of the Interior A. Bilotaitė revealed the plan.

“As the experience of installing a physical barrier and installing surveillance systems has shown, it costs a lot. The total need, if we were to talk about the border with both Russia and Belarus, would be about 10 million euros,” the figure was named by VSAT commander R. Lyubayev.

It cost 150 million euros to build 550 kilometers of fences with cutting wire on the border between Lithuania and Belarus.

“The European Union (EU) does not finance specific projects such as fences. But it finances the infrastructure for border protection. This is primarily the monitoring system, the patrol trail, which is currently being installed,” said A. Bilotaitė.

Therefore, the necessary 10 million euros for the construction of the fence in the swampy border areas would also have to be found in the state’s pocket. And it may soon become empty due to mandatory European quotas, redistributing migrants from Southern Europe.

Every day, thousands of illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East arrive in Italy and Greece via the Mediterranean Sea.

L. Kasčiūnas, head of the NSGK of the Seimas, told LNK news that the talks will start already this autumn.

According to preliminary calculations, Lithuania would have to take in about 150 migrants who arrived illegally in Southern Europe. If he refuses, he will have to pay to the European Commission (EK) – 20 thousand each. euros for each migrant.

See the full LNK news report here: