Authorities say photos and documents found on migrants’ phones indicate Belarusian military involvement in helping migrants cross into the European Union. Details about when the evidence was discovered remain unclear.
Latvia unveiled evidence on Thursday (January 15) suggesting Belarusian involvement in planning and carrying out irregular migrant crossings across the border between the two countries, escalating long-standing accusations against Minsk of using migration as a form of hybrid warfare against the European Union (EU).
"Information available to the National Armed Forces (NAF) and the State Border Guard, as well as recorded incidents, confirms the involvement of law enforcement and military structures of the Republic of Belarus in directing illegal migrants toward the Latvian state border," said the Latvian Ministry of Defense in a statement.
The evidence included military documents and images showing Belarusian border guards with migrants. The images were found in the possession of migrants after they had crossed the border into Latvia. Cases have already been recorded of Belarusian border guards transporting groups of migrants to different parts of the border and directing them to attempt to cross the Latvian state border.
Latvian officials said it had identified the confiscated material as belonging to the reconnaissance battalion of the 19th Guards Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in the Vitebsk region. The ministry didn't explain when or where the images had been taken.
The EU has long accused Belarus – and its close ally Russia – of weaponizing migration to foment chaos in a region that had once been under Soviet rule.
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The 'Belarus route'
The Belarus route emerged in August 2021 after Belarusian dictator Aleksander Lukashenko began offering unrestricted access to thousands of migrants from the Middle East into Europe, flying them to Minsk, and then transporting many in state buses to the borders of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, all EU members.
Human rights organizations have slammed the responses of the countries along the EU’s eastern front. Amnesty in a 2022 report documented numerous human rights violations committed by Latvian authorities, including secret detention and torture.
Meanwhile, Lukashenko has publicly denied encouraging migrants to cross the Belarus border into the EU but his denials are hardly credible – especially when an underground tunnel was discovered in late 2025 leading from Belarus into Polish territory. It was the fourth tunnel suspected of being used to smuggle migrants discovered that year.