The Lithuanian Ministry of Interior stated that elements of its Border Guard prevented 54 illegal migrants from attempting to enter the country during the past 24 hours.

The ministry added in its statement: "During the past 24 hours, 54 migrants were forced to return to Belarus, from which the illegal migrants attempted to enter Lithuania, marking the highest number this year."

According to the statement, the last time such a large number of attempts to illegally cross the Lithuanian-Belarusian border was recorded was in November 2022. The Lithuanian ministry clarified that on November 21, 57 illegal migrants were expelled from the border.

Since August 2021, against the backdrop of the migration crisis with mass attempts by migrants from Asian and African countries to cross from Belarus to Lithuania in order to reach the European Union, the Vilnius authorities decided to return illegal migrants to Belarus.

During the past period, 21.2 thousand people were expelled from the borders of Lithuania, and since the beginning of 2023, this number has reached 1980.