Riga, Sept. 15, (dpa/GNA) – Estonia will send up to 20 border guards to Latvia to help its Baltic neighbour protect and check its border with Belarus, Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets said on Thursday in Tallinn.
The officers are to assist their Latvian colleagues in patrols and mass controls for as long as necessary, he said.
Latvia had recently registered a significant increase in the number of migrants trying to cross its border with the authoritarian-ruled Belarus without permission.
“Belarus is testing the capabilities of its neighbouring countries, these are also hybrid attacks,” Läänemets said.
Latvia, along with Poland and Lithuania, accuses Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of bringing migrants to the EU’s external border in an organized manner to exert political pressure.
All countries have therefore already strengthened the protection of the border. Lithuania had already sent up to 20 border guards to support Latvia.
Lativa, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland are all members of both the European Union and the NATO defence alliance.
Hybrid threats mean that attackers rely on a combination of classic military operations, economic pressure, hacker attacks and even propaganda in the media and social networks.
GNA