Belarus is sending migrants to the Lithuanian border barefoot in winter weather, charged Vilnius on Wednesday, accusing its neighbour of using new, illegal tactics in a long-simmering border war.
Belarusian authorities have encouraged migrants to try to cross the border with the EU country barefoot, according to Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite in Vilnius on Wednesday. The aim is to put pressure on the Lithuanian border guards, Bilotaite said.
According to the minister, small tent camps have been set up on the Belarusian side to accommodate migrants who want to cross the border. Lithuania, however, said it would continue to turn them away.
The migrants received an aid package with food, clothing and shoes from the Lithuanian border guard.
"The fact that people arrive barefoot at the border will not be a reason to let them in," the minister said.
According to the deputy head of the border guard, Rimantas Petrauskas, nine migrants have already been admitted to medical facilities because of their health. There are significantly more migrants who were not properly dressed and tried to cross the border into Lithuania, he said, according to the BNS news agency.
Since January, more than 10,000 migrants have been stopped from crossing the border, according to official data.
Bilotaite added she hoped international organizations would pay attention to the situation at the border. She had approached the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Red Cross to this end.
Lithuania itself had come under criticism for its strict line on migration.
The country has an almost 680-kilometer-long border with Belarus, which is part of the EU's external border. In late summer and autumn 2021, the situation there escalated: thousands of people tried to enter the EU.
Brussels accused Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of bringing migrants from crisis regions to the EU's external border in an attempt to spark a crisis.
