Latvia hastily strengthened the border with Belarus due to the “increased hybrid threat

The Latvian State Border Service issued a statement that it will mobilize emergency additional border guards from August 15 in order to strengthen the border with Belarus.

"Military units guarding the border stopped giving leave to employees, and also called on those on leave to work,” the statement said.

The decision was made “in connection with the rapid growth of the hybrid threat on the Latvian—Belarusian state border.” The military institution claims that on August 14, 96 people tried to illegally cross the border (on August 13, 76 people). The border service claimed that the Belarusian government was actively involved in” organizing the influx of illegal immigrants".

Latvian border guards requested additional assistance from the National Armed Forces and the country's police. Frontier chief Guntis Puyats told the LSM that the armed forces had agreed to provide additional resources. The Latvian Armed Forces confirmed that they would assist border guards in stopping illegal migration attempts.

Recall that after the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia, part of the mercenaries of the private military company “Wagner” moved to Belarus. In response, Polish officials increased border protection with Belarus. In Latvia and Poland, there were calls by officials to join Wagner.