Latvian border guards discovered an underground passage leading from Belarus, and Prime Minister Kulbergs warns: 'Everything will come to an end.' Enhanced cooperation between the military, police, and security services has been announced.
On Tuesday, August 11, 2026, Latvia announced that it had discovered a secret tunnel beneath its border with Belarus, used by migrants to illegally enter the European Union. Authorities immediately announced a plan to crack down on the networks they claim are behind the increasing number of illegal crossings.
The day before, on August 10, border guards in the Augšdaugava Municipality, Skrudaliena Parish, within the area of responsibility of the Silene Border Guard Station, caught 15 people who had illegally crossed the state border. They did so through an excavated underground tunnel located just 10 meters from the border fence.
This is not the first such case in the Baltic region. Lithuania also reported finding a tunnel used by migrants to enter from Belarus in July of this year, indicating an organized pattern of activity.
At a joint press conference, Interior Minister Janis Dombrava and Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs presented measures to close this route. "Protection of Latvia's eastern border will be strengthened, and border control, police, armed forces, and security services will cooperate more closely, with increased use of drones for early detection and detention of illegal migrants," Dombrava said.
Prime Minister Kulbergs was even more direct in his message to the organizers of illegal crossings. "To the organizers, I want to say: everything will come to an end," he stated. He emphasized that criminal groups are helping migrants enter Latvia from Belarus, and thus the Schengen area, even though their final destination is elsewhere on the continent. "They migrate to where it's easier (to enter the EU). Therefore, we must not be the easiest place (to enter)," Kulbergs said.
He also promised to strike at the logistics of these networks within the country. "If everything goes according to plan, we are confident that we will deal a sufficiently strong blow to the system," he added.
Last month, Kulbergs described the migrant situation to Reuters as a "hybrid threat," which had already led Latvia to double the number of police officers along its 173-kilometer border with Belarus. The situation escalated last month when Latvian soldiers used tear gas and fired warning shots to stop migrants attempting to enter the country.
To increase pressure, the government in Riga has announced cooperation with neighboring countries Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland. The discovery comes at a time of heightened concern across Europe over illegal migration, further fueled by the recent mass entry of tens of thousands of people from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
