Secret mini-tunnels discovered on the EU's external border with Belarus

Three EU states share a border with Belarus: Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. The borders are well secured, and Poland in particular boasts a high-tech system to deter migrants who want to enter the European Union from Belarus. However, several mini-tunnels have now been discovered that people can still use to slip through.

This primarily concerns the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania. Latvian authorities spoke on Friday of a tunnel that had been discovered not far from the town of Kraslava in the southeast of the country. Another secret underpass beneath the border between Belarus and Latvia had already been discovered the previous week. Underground secret routes have also been repeatedly discovered in Poland and Lithuania through which people from Belarus reached the EU states.

The buildings are not particularly large. According to SPIEGEL's findings, these are tiny tunnels that are only ten meters long. The tunnels could have been dug with approval from Minsk. Lithuania has long accused the regime of Belarusian leader and Kremlin friend Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately bringing migrants from crisis regions to the European Union's external border in order to put pressure on the EU.

According to research by NDR and WDR, Frontex also made serious allegations against Belarus: In an internal analysis, the EU border protection agency assumes that state authorities in Belarus are supporting the construction of the border tunnels. It cannot be ruled out that Lukashenko's regime is using specialists to construct the tunnels and migrants to dig, according to the papers available to NDR and WDR.

Hoping for “Operation Werewolf”

In order to curb the significant increase in the number of irregular border crossers in the summer, Latvia recently launched “Operation Werewolf” to secure its eastern border. Border guards, state police, armed forces and secret services should work more closely together. Radar systems and drones will also be increasingly used in the border area to detect illegal border crossings.

Latvia is receiving support from Estonia and Lithuania, which have sent border guards to help their Baltic neighbor protect and control the border. In both countries, an increasing number of people seeking protection had previously been picked up whose journey led from Belarus across the EU external border to Latvia and then on to Estonia or Lithuania. The number of smugglers involved has also increased. Many migrants who want to enter the EU irregularly via Belarus have Germany as their destination.