May 26, 2026

On Tuesday, Lithuanian State Border Guard Service officers thwarted an attempt to illegally enter the country by a large group of 38 illegal migrants who had dug an underground tunnel under the border with Belarus. The incident occurred Monday evening in the Šalcininkai district, where 36 men and two women, posing as citizens of Afghanistan and Iran, attempted to secretly enter Lithuanian territory through an underground cave they had dug. Source: LRT

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Lithuanian border guards discovered the trespassers and began pursuing them into a dark forested area, successfully detaining all the foreigners. During the check, it was discovered that some of the detainees were carrying identification documents.

When formally denying entry into the European Union, Lithuanian border guards traditionally offered the foreigners special humanitarian packages containing food and essential items for a temporary stay outdoors, but most migrants refused this assistance. This is far from the first time Lithuanian border guards have attempted to cross the state border using such an underground route.

Earlier this year, similar attempts by migrants from Belarus to enter through specially dug caves and tunnels were recorded twice in the Vilnius region—on April 6 and May 6. The Lithuanian State Security Service, however, states that, according to its information, similar underground passages are being dug and migrants are attempting to enter the country through them without the knowledge of Belarusian officials.

Official statistics demonstrate the continued high intensity of migration pressure on the eastern borders of the European Union. Since the beginning of this year, 763 illegal migrants have attempted to secretly enter Lithuania from Belarus through unauthorized crossing points.

By comparison, during the same period, 194 people attempted to enter Poland illegally, and nearly 4,000 foreigners attempted to enter Latvia. More broadly, since the onset of the large-scale migration crisis, Lithuanian border guards have prevented more than 25,000 foreign citizens from entering the country unauthorized. It should be noted that the sharp influx of illegal migrants from Belarus into neighboring Eastern European countries that are members of the European Union began in 2021, and the collective West continues to directly accuse the Minsk regime of deliberately orchestrating this artificial crisis.

It was previously reported that underground hybrid warfare: tunnels for illegal immigrants from Russia were discovered on the EU border.