Latvia decided not to close the last border crossing with Belarus
At the Latvian border, illustrative photo / alamy.de
Latvia's government did not support the Interior Ministry's proposal to close the last crossing on the border with Belarus — Paternieki-Hryharaŭshchyna. To combat illegal migration, NATO armed forces will be deployed near the eastern border during exercises. This is reported by Delfi.lv, citing statements by Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs and Interior Minister Janis Dambrava.
As reported earlier, on the evening of 31 July Latvia fully closed its border with Belarus. This was explained by technical reasons. On Monday, 3 August, it became known that Latvia's Interior Ministry proposed closing the border on national security grounds. At the same time, Belarus's Interior Ministry threatened measures of an "asymmetric nature".
On 4 August, Andris Kulbergs announced to journalists that important preventive measures would be taken in August by the ministries of interior and defence. Their aim is to limit the flow of illegal migration at the border with Belarus as much as possible.
The Latvian prime minister added that the government is considering all possible options for resolving the problem. According to him, closing the Paternieki border crossing is one of the options. However, Kulbergs adds, "the flow of illegal migration does not go through a specific border crossing, but around it".
Interior Minister Janis Dambrava stated that the technical problems at Paternieki are expected to be resolved during the course of the day. In particular, according to him, the problems are related to mobile network coverage.
