Migration theme
Doesn't look like the Western European far-left parties will have any shortage of voters and candidates for their election lists.
"Somalia – welcome to Latvia" Just this year, over 11,000 attempts to cross the border from Belarus into Latvia have been stopped. Migrants are being used as a tool in Belarus and Russia’s hybrid war against the EU, to create chaos and conflict. This is according to the Latvian government and the EU border agency Frontex.
SVT has found TikTok accounts that promote migrant smuggling from Russia and Belarus, through the Baltics and onward to other EU countries. The accounts share videos with text like "Somalia – welcome to Latvia," along with phone numbers. Some of the accounts SVT found seem to target migrants, while others are looking for drivers to transport them. See the segment on SVT Nyheter.
Migrants are being labeled as a hybrid threat – the border is being reinforced. Since 2021, tens of thousands of attempts to get from Belarus into Latvia have been stopped. Just this year, according to border authorities, it's been over 11,000. The background is in Belarus. After the rigged presidential election in 2020, Aleksandr Lukashenko crushed protests and jailed opposition figures. The EU didn't recognize the election results and imposed sanctions on the regime. The following year, according to the EU, people started being flown to Belarus from places like the Middle East. Belarusian authorities are then said to have helped the migrants move toward the borders with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Similar accusations have been made against Belarus's closest ally, Russia. The Latvian government describes the migration as part of a hybrid threat from Belarus and Russia.
The border patrol says that they have seen uniformed people on the Belarusian side transporting migrants toward the border and letting them pass. Documents with some of the migrants show that they study at Russian universities. Watch the segment on SVT News.