The government decided to close the Silene border post on September 19 last year due to the government's previously announced enhanced work mode of the border guarding system from August 11, 2023, to February 10, 2024, in areas in the east of the country.
Since the number of irregular border crossings to Latvia-Belarus has decreased in recent months, the reinforced operation regime of the border security system will not be continued.
However, the war initiated by Russia and openly supported by Belarus against Ukraine is considered an additional risk circumstance and possible motivation for Belarus to continue its efforts to destabilize the situation on the country's border with Latvia, the Ministry of Interior said, so the government has decided that the Silene border point will not open for crossing.
The Ministry also refers to Finland's experience with the issue of the closure of the Finnish-Russian State border.
"As soon as the Finnish government decided to open the border crossing points on the Finnish-Russian state border, they immediately saw a large influx of migrants. According to security experts, the Russian Federation uses hybrid warfare tactics on the country's border with Finland, repeating the scenario of triggering the migration crisis, which was already applied on the border of the Republic of Belarus with the Member States of the European Union," the ministry stated.
On the Latvian-Belarusian border, the Pāternieki border crossing point continues to work.
