An Underground Tunnel Has Been Discovered On The Belarus-Latvia Border

10 meters from the barrier.

On the night of August 11, border guards discovered an underground tunnel on the border with Belarus, according to the Latvian State Border Guard.

According to the report, the tunnel is located within the jurisdiction of the Silene Border Guard Directorate, 10 meters from the border barrier.

Fifteen migrants illegally crossed the border through the tunnel—all of them were detained and returned to Belarus.

The agency emphasizes that this is the first recorded instance of a tunnel being used to illegally cross the Latvian border. “Previously, no signs of a breach had been detected at this location, and not a single arrest of individuals illegally crossing the state border had been recorded,” the Border Guard Service notes.

According to the website Delfi, the tunnel was discovered near the Silene border crossing (its counterpart on the Belarusian side is Urban, which was closed in the fall of 2023).

On August 11, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated that the smuggling of illegal migrants is a well-established business run by organized criminal groups linked to Russia. According to him, it is important not only to strengthen border controls but also to monitor the movement of vehicles within the country.

The head of government noted that all possible measures to combat illegal migration are being considered to strengthen border security, and he described the current flow of migrants into Latvia as high.

It was also announced that an operation called Vilkatis (“Werewolf”) has been launched to combat illegal migration. As part of this operation, there are plans to make more active use of modern technology—the use of unmanned aerial systems in the border zone will be expanded to more effectively detect and detain illegal migrants.

Kulbergs added that among the security measures under consideration is the closure of the Paternieki border crossing (known as Grigorovshchina on the Belarusian side), although the main flow of illegal migration is not recorded at the checkpoint itself, but in the adjacent sections of the border.

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