Latvia has become the latest EU member state to step up the protection of its border with Belarus. The government in Riga accuses its neighbor of deliberately organizing irregular migrant crossings to weaken the eastern flank of the EU.
Authorities in Latvia said on Tuesday that extra officers would be deployed along its 172-kilometer border with Belarus in response to a "rapidly increasing hybrid threat."
At least 96 migrants had tried to cross the border from Belarus to Latvia within the previous 24 hours, the Latvian border guard said in a statement.
The authority meanwhile has suspended annual leave for its officers and has recalled some who were on vacation.
Latvian Defence Minister Inara Murniece also responded by ordering an unknown number of additional units to be deployed to the border, after the border guard requested support from the armed forces and police.
Tuesday's announcement follows similar moves by Lithuania and Poland, which have both deployed additional troops to their border with Belarus, calling it a "deterrent move."
A ploy to weaken the EU
Latvian authorities claim that the irregular migrant crossings are being organized by Belarus to destablize the EU.
Poland last week said the same, accusing Russia and Belarus of orchestrating another influx of migrants into the European Union -- a reference to the events of 2021, when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko enabled tens of thousands of migrants to come to Minsk with the aim of helping them cross into the EU.
In addition to irregular migrant crossings, the three EU member states are also concerned about the presence in Belarus of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group since last month.
With dpa