(Reuters) The leaders of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia came together on Saturday to condemn Belarus for allowing migrants to illegally cross its borders into the European Union.
“All European Union member states have a duty to protect borders and to stop illegal entries,” read a Polish government statement published after a videoconference of the countries’ prime ministers.
In recent weeks, Lithuania has reported a surge in illegal border crossings from Belarus and accused Minsk of flying in migrants from abroad and dispatching them into the EU.
Earlier this month, Poland accused Belarus of sending a growing number of migrants over the border in retaliation for Warsaw’s decision to give refuge to Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, a Belarusian athlete who refused to return home from the Tokyo Olympics.
