Latvia plans to close its only border crossing with Belarus
On August 4, the Latvian government will consider a proposal from the Ministry of the Interior to temporarily suspend operations at the “Paternieki” border crossing on the Latvian-Belarusian border. The reasons cited are a hybrid attack by Belarus and a rise in illegal migration.
The draft decision is scheduled to be considered on an urgent basis.
The Latvian Prime Minister emphasized that a hybrid attack from Belarus is ongoing, so the authorities must use all available tools to strengthen the security of the state border.
According to him, the situation on the border with Belarus poses a real threat to national security, and decisions must be made based on an analysis of statistics and the effectiveness of measures already in place.
The Latvian Ministry of the Interior proposes temporarily closing the “Paternieki” road border crossing on the border with Belarus.
The ministry believes that this will:
- strengthen the security of the state border;
- reduce the burden associated with illegal migration;
- make more effective use of the State Border Guard Service’s resources.
The Ministry of the Interior also stated that Belarus has long been facilitating the uncontrolled movement of third-country nationals toward the European Union’s external border, which poses additional risks to Latvia.
Currently, border control at the “Paternieki” checkpoint is effectively not being carried out.
The official reason cited is technical malfunctions in the information systems, which were detected on July 31.
According to Latvian authorities, since the beginning of 2026, nearly 8,000 migrants have attempted to enter Latvia illegally from Belarus.
This figure is nearly nine times higher than the number of similar attempts to illegally cross the border from Belarus into Lithuania, which, according to the authorities, confirms the need to strengthen security measures.
This was reported by the publication Delfi.
On the evening of July 31, Latvia temporarily closed its border with Belarus due to technical malfunctions in its information systems. Citizens who had planned to return to the country via Belarus were urged to use alternative routes.
In addition, the Estonian Ministry of the Interior proposes to extend, for an indefinite period, the reduced operating hours at three road border crossing points on the border with Russia.
Estonia plans to change the rules for temporary protection for Ukrainians.
Estonia wants to cut off funding for the IOC due to the return of Russia and Belarus to sports.
Ukraine and Estonia have signed a cooperation agreement on unmanned aerial vehicles.
