Lithuania sues Belarus over Lukashenko’s migration blackmail

Lithuania has filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice in The Hague against the regime of self-proclaimed president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko over the migration crisis, which the country considers a violation of international law.

This filing was announced on May 19 by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as quoted by LRT.

The lawsuit filed by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry alleges that Belarus has violated its international obligations under the UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air.

“Since 2021, Lithuania has been facing an unprecedented influx of illegal migrants from the territory of Belarus. Evidence collected by Lithuanian authorities confirms the direct involvement of the Belarusian regime in organizing this flow,” the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

As noted, state-owned enterprises of Belarus have significantly increased the number of flights from the Middle East and other regions, as well as organized visas and housing for the arriving migrants.

In addition, after arriving in Belarus, many migrants were escorted by security forces to the Lithuanian border and forced to cross it illegally, often in dangerous and life-threatening conditions.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also states that, despite numerous requests for cooperation, the Belarusian border guard service has refused to cooperate with the Lithuanian side to stop these illegal crossings.

“Lithuania regards such actions as a deliberate attempt by the Belarusian regime to use migration as an instrument of political pressure on Lithuania and the European Union in response to their support for democracy in Belarus and the imposition of sanctions for human rights violations,” the statement reads.

Due to the lack of progress in bilateral negotiations to resolve the dispute over the violation of the Protocol, Lithuania has applied to the International Court of Justice to bring Belarus to justice in accordance with international law.

The Lithuanian side demands full compensation for the damage caused, including the costs of border arrangement, as well as guarantees that such actions will not be repeated.

According to the country’s State Border Guard Service, since the beginning of the migration crisis, Lithuanian border guards have prevented 23,600 foreigners from illegally crossing the border from Belarus. Some of them tried to cross the border repeatedly.

As reported, an artificial migration crisis on the eastern borders of the Baltic states has emerged since the summer of 2021 with the assistance of the Belarusian authorities—after these countries’ harsh reaction to repressions in Belarus and the forced landing of a flight in Minsk to arrest an opposition blogger.

Despite the increased border protection, the issue has not been completely solved and has also been impacting Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Lithuania has prevented 628 illegal migrants from entering since the beginning of 2025. In 2024, more than a thousand attempts to cross the border from Belarus in illegal places were recorded.

On May 6, a group of migrants, denied permission to cross from Belarus, threw stones and sticks at Lithuanian border guards. The next day, Lithuanian border guards detained more than three dozen illegal migrants on the border with Belarus.