Latvia closes border with Belarus

Latvia's Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the closure of the border with Belarus for technical reasons. Interior Minister Janis Dombrava announced this on the evening of July 31 on the social network X.

Paternieki (Grygaraushchyna on the Belarusian side) is the only active border crossing point between Latvia and Belarus. Earlier, the minister had urged Latvian residents to refrain from traveling to Belarus, and those already there to return home, pointing to the risks of movement between the countries amid migration pressure from Belarus. 

The exact date of the border closure was not announced in advance, although information about a possible closure of the crossing point from August 3 had been circulating on social media.

A Latvian citizen living in Daugavpils wrote to the Delfi about the situation at the border. She is in Belarus caring for her seriously ill mother and had planned to remain there for at least another two weeks. 

"Since my children and husband remain in Latvia, I have to live between two countries — I cannot abandon my mother and leave my children and husband without attention," she said. 

According to her, reaching out to border guards did not yield a concrete answer about what to do next.

Latvia's Foreign Minister recommended that those who have not yet returned to the country use alternative routes. There is no direct bus service between Latvia and Belarus: carriers' licenses have expired, new ones are not being issued, and unscheduled transportation has been suspended until October 31. Their place is partially being taken by private carriers, whose service safety is not regulated.

According to Latvia's State Border Guard, in 2024–2025, 71,000 Latvian citizens who enjoy a visa-free regime traveled to Belarus from Latvia.

In recent months, cases of illegal border crossings from the Belarusian side have become more frequent. On July 29, border guards prevented 87 attempts at illegal crossings, and since the beginning of the year — 8,992. 

In Lithuania, the number of detained illegal migrants in the first half of the year quadrupled compared to last year — from around 300 to more than 1,200 people, according to the LETA news agency.