Estonia Sends Police Unit to Latvian-Belarusian Border to Curb Illegal Migrants Influx

On 29 July, a group of Estonian police officers travelled to Latvia to help their neighbours combat the recent increase in illegal immigration attempts on the Latvian-Belarusian border.

This was reported by ERR.

In the first three weeks of July, the Latvian border guard stopped 730 attempts to illegally enter the country. 

Last week, the Latvian Border Guard asked Estonia for help, and on Monday, the Police and Border Guard Board sent a team of 11 police officers to start patrolling the Latvian-Belarusian border on Tuesday.

The main task of the Estonian police officers is to participate in ground patrols. The team includes a dog handler and a dog. 

The unit also has the ability to patrol the border using drones.

The team will work in Latvia for two weeks, after which it will be replaced by a second rotation. 

The last time the Estonian PPA ESTPOL8 unit provided support to Latvia was last autumn, when it also helped to protect the Latvian-Belarusian border.

In January, the defence ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania approved the creation of a joint Baltic defence zone on the eastern border, where the countries border Russia and Belarus.

Also, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia called on the EU to build a defence line along the border with Russia and Belarus.

As The Gaze previously reported, in November 2023, Poland deployed a tank battalion near the border with Belarus to strengthen the country's defences against potential threats from Russia and Belarus.