"January and early February could be called calm, recent days suggest that once again the number of offenses is on a growing trend. There were 75 attempts to cross [the border] illegally in February, there are already 46 in March, and that's only the beginning of the month,” Pujāts told LTV.
Pujāts explained the increase in the number of border violations with warmer weather. “The cold winter was a deterrent and as it gets warmer, the number of offenders can be expected to increase,” the border force chief said.
He said that given the increase in the number of violations, the issue of reinstating the reinforced border protection regime would be raised.
The Chief of State Border Guard said that the number of border crossing violations is also increasing in Lithuania and especially Poland. In February, Poland recorded several hundred violations on the Polish-Belarusian border.
