RIGA, August 13. The Latvian government approved the proposal of Interior Minister Marija Golubeva to impose a state of emergency along the border with Belarus over an inflow of illegal migrants at a session on Tuesday. The state of emergency will stay in place until November 10.
“The government decision to introduce a state of emergency on the Latvian border has been passed. Security measures on the border will be stepped up immediately,” the minister said in a tweet.
Latvia is now facing illegal migration from Belarus as Lithuania did earlier. In the past five days alone some 283 transgressors were detained on the border, while overall this year, 343 people have been detained.
In order to fight the illegal migration, several years ago Latvia announced plans to equip 173 kilometers of the border with Belarus, including a 135-kilometer-long fence. The project was estimated at 27.6 million euros, and work was planned to be finished in 2021. However, the process was stalled due to certain defects detected by the state inspection committee. Last week, the authorities said they planned to speed up the construction of the infrastructure on the border with Belarus.
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