DISINFO: Lithuanian officers injure migrants and push them illegally across the border with Belarus
SUMMARY
Lithuania is pushing illegal migrants to Belarus. Lithuanian officers are using force against refugees and refuse to provide medical assistance to them. Many migrants forced to cross the border of Belarus are injured. One migrant already died on the Lithuania-Belarusian border.
RESPONSE
It is disinformation in the context of the migrant crisis on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border.
Lithuania is not pushing migrants to Belarus. Lithuanian border guards do not allow migrants to illegally cross the border from the territory of Belarus.
There is no evidence about migrants being injured by Lithuanian border officials. The story about the death of the migrant on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border due to Lithuanian action has no proof. Lithuania officially rejected that claim.
In one instance, several children who crossed the border with their parents were immediately taken to the hospital by the Lithuanian authorities due to poisoning with psycho-active components. According to the accompanying adults, the children were given pills by masked individuals in Belarus who led the migrants to the border.
In 2021, Lithuania faced an influx of illegal migrants from Belarus (the majority are citizens of third countries: Syria, Iraq, African countries). Earlier Belarus ended cooperation with the EU to stem illegal migration. It was Minsk's answer to the European Union sanctions on the political regime of Belarus (read more about sanctions here).
On 2 July 2021, Lithuania declared a state of emergency due to the migrant crisis. During the first eight months of 2021, over 4000 illegal migrants crossed the border from Belarus to Lithuania.
Lithuania officially linked the influx of illegal migrants to the actions of Belarusian authorities. The minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis noted that “Lukashenko seeks to weaponise migration to weaken our resolve for sanctions”.
There is information that migrants are regularly carried by buses to the Belarusian-Lithuanian border. It was also filmed how Belarusian border guards direct migrants over the border.
See the earlier case of disinformation claiming that there is no evidence that Belarus is responsible for the migrant crisis in Lithuania.