Government supports the closure of the Silene border crossing point with Belarus

On 19 September, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the suspension of the operation of the Silene border crossing point, in view of the large number of attempts and cases of illegal crossing of the Latvia-Belarus border, as well as the need to transfer resources to the 'green' border in recent weeks.

The pressure of illegal immigration has tripled in a short time. Until now, in September, officials of the State Border Guard have prevented 1773 attempts by individuals to cross illegally the Latvia-Belarus border while in August a total of 1615 attempts to cross the Latvian-Belarusian border were prevented.

In order to ensure that the freight transport is not significantly affected, as well as urgent journeys related to the continuous performance of employment relations, humanitarian reasons, force majeure, the operation of the Latvia-Belarus border will continue at the Pāternieki border crossing point.

Belarus' open support to Russia's war against Ukraine is an additional risk factor and a possible motivation for Belarus to continue its efforts to destabilise the situation on the state border with Latvia. By reducing the number of persons crossing the Latvia-Belarus border, the relevant risks are also reduced. It is also essential to ensure joint transnational coordinated action on such illegal crossings of the state border in order to ensure equal border security for the countries of the region with Belarus.