The services involved in protecting the state border will have greater powers to deal with attackers and threats, the government decided on Tuesday during a closed-door session, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs (United List) said in an interview with Latvian Television's Morning Panorama n October 14.
This was decided in response to reports of an incident that took place in early October on the border between Latvia and Belarus, in which masked and armed men attempted to smuggle 20 migrants into the country and subsequently damaged infrastructure.
“Firstly, it is unacceptable that we are being tested. It cannot be the case that they escalate the situation and we do not use the measures available to us,” said Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs (United List) in an interview on Latvian Television’s programme “Morning Panorama” on Wednesday morning, commenting on the government’s decision.
When asked how the capabilities of border guards and soldiers to counter such threats would be expanded, Kulbergs replied – without going into detail – that there would be "greater scope to use kinetic measures along the country’s eastern border."
In early October, masked, aggressive and armed escorts from Belarus attempted to smuggle a group of border violators across the border into Latvia. A group of at least 20 migrants who had crossed the border illegally, led by masked escorts, attempted to cross the Latvia–Belarus border unlawfully. Soldiers from the National Armed Forces (NBS) stopped the attempted border crossing, but unlike in many previous incidents, this time the provocation was particularly demonstrative and aggressive.
The escorts of the border violators were armed, made threats against National Armed Forces soldiers, and actively urged and drove the group of migrants towards Latvia.
Subsequently, a hitherto little-known group called ‘Black Russians’ claimed responsibility for the incident on the Latvian–Belarusian border.
Analysts believe that this is a front organisation created by the Belarusian and Russian special services for hybrid operations, whilst the State Security Service has launched criminal proceedings regarding the formation of a criminal organisation.
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