On Monday, an 11-member unit from the Estonian Police and Border Guard Department departed from Tartu for Latvia to assist Latvian colleagues in countering illegal border crossings along the Belarusian border.
The Estonian unit will operate in the Kaplava and Robežnieki areas, where the highest number of illegal crossing attempts have recently been recorded. Last summer, the “ESTPOL 9” unit was also active in the same region.
The newly deployed “ESTPOL 10” unit will work in Latvia for two weeks. During this period, they will assess the situation together with their Latvian counterparts and jointly decide on the need for another rotation.
Recent forecasts suggest that pressure from illegal migration via Belarus is not expected to ease any time soon. Therefore, Latvia last week officially requested assistance from the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board.
The main task of “ESTPOL 10” will be participation in border patrols. However, considering the behavioural patterns of illegal border crossers, Latvia has requested that the Estonian team include officers with training and experience in crowd management.
Estonian officials emphasize that the Latvian-Belarusian border is also an external border of the European Union and NATO. Participation in such operations provides Estonian services with valuable real-world experience in dealing with migration-related threats.
As previously reported, 124 people attempted to cross the Latvian-Belarusian border illegally last Saturday and Sunday, according to the State Border Guard.
The Border Guard had earlier predicted that illegal migration flows from Belarus would resume with the onset of warmer weather. At the same time, there has been increased activity by individuals supporting illegal border crossings.
So far this year, 2 922 people have been prevented from illegally crossing the border. For humanitarian reasons, Latvia has admitted 11 individuals.