The Pāternieki border crossing point has resumed operations, restoring the possibility to cross the Latvian–Belarusian border, the State Border Guard informed the LETA news agency.
According to the Border Guard, motorists with active reservations are now receiving invitations to arrive at the border crossing.
From Wednesday, the 5th of August, the lvrobeza.lv online reservation system will again accept new bookings for border crossing times.
As of this evening, travellers are once again able both to enter Latvia from Belarus and to travel from Latvia into Belarus via the Pāternieki border checkpoint.
Border control at Pāternieki had been suspended since the 31st of July due to technical problems affecting information systems. During the disruption, the State Border Guard advised travellers to use the Medininkai or Šalčininkai border crossing points on the Lithuania–Belarus border if necessary.
As previously reported,
the Latvian government on Tuesday decided not to approve a proposal by the Ministry of the Interior
to suspend operations at the Pāternieki border crossing as part of efforts to combat illegal migration.
Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs told journalists that significant preventive measures involving both the interior and defence sectors would be implemented during August to minimise the flow of irregular migrants at Latvia’s border, which also serves as one of the European Union’s external borders.
The Prime Minister also stressed that the government is considering every possible option to safeguard national security and address the challenge of illegal migration.
He noted that closing the Pāternieki border crossing remains one of the options under consideration.
However, “at this stage we are not confirming such a decision, because the current illegal migration pressure is occurring outside the official border crossing point rather than at the checkpoint itself,” he said.
Asked to what extent economic considerations had influenced the government’s decision not to close the crossing for the time being, Kulbergs replied that security remains the overriding priority.
The Ministry of the Interior, headed by Jānis Dombrava (National Alliance), had previously prepared a proposal to suspend operations at Pāternieki, which would have effectively closed the only road border crossing between Latvia and Belarus.
Latvia has maintained an enhanced border security regime along its frontier with Belarus until the end of the year in response to increased pressure from irregular migration originating from Belarus.
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