Riga, March 18 (LETA) - The restriction of movement through Latvia's border crossings with Russia and Belarus is not a spontaneous decision, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (New Unity) said in an interview to the Latvian Television.

The Border Guard and the Interior Ministry have been analyzing the situation "for some time" and, taking into account the information on potential threats, a clear decision has been taken to urge the government to ban pedestrians and cyclists from passing through the border crossing points Paternieki, Grebneva and Terehova.

According to the minister, by this morning almost all sectors had already agreed on the draft government decision, so he thinks that the Cabinet will not have any delays in adopting the decision.

Kozlovskis revealed that the interior services always try to be prepared for different situations, and also different draft decisions are already prepared in advance, because it can happen that a decision on what to do with the border has to be taken within half an hour or even a few minutes. "Nothing has changed, we are in the same situation for the fourth year, only some algorithms are changing," Kozlovskis added, referring to the geopolitical situation and the hybrid threat Latvia has been facing in recent years, especially since the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

According to the draft decision, the border checkpoints with Russia and Belarus - Paternieki, Grebneva and Terehova - could be closed to pedestrians and cyclists from Wednesday, March 19. As for the period for which they would remain partially closed, Kozlovskis did not express optimism that the situation would change in the near future. He said that six months would initially be a realistic, optimal timeframe, if not longer.

"If we look at Finland, all border checkpoints are still closed. (...) On the Lithuanian border, where it was much calmer compared to Latvia, there have also been [migrant] flows and attempts to cross [the border] illegally. So we have to admit that, unfortunately, nothing has changed, and it looks like we will not be able to ease things here at the moment. Hopefully, more drastic decisions will not have to be taken," the interior minister summarized.

The annotation to the draft document states that the partial closure of border crossing points is necessary due to the current geopolitical situation in the context of Russia's military actions in Ukraine. The ministry stresses the need to reinforce the border protection system and to improve the organization of border controls at these border crossing points.

"The war against Ukraine, launched by Russia and openly supported by Belarus, should be seen as a risk factor and a possible motivation for Russia and Belarus to continue their efforts to destabilize the situation on the Latvian border," says the Ministry of the Interior, citing Finland's experience with border closures. In a short period of time, Finland saw an increase in the number of people illegally trying to cross the Russian-Finnish border on bicycles and scooters. It is now forbidden to cross the Finnish-Russian border on foot.

"It is therefore essential for Latvia to follow a common approach with regard to the effectiveness of the organization of border controls at Latvia's borders with Belarus and Russia at the existing border crossing points, assuming that Russia uses hybrid warfare tactics at the border with Finland and can repeat the scenario of triggering a migration crisis, which was already used at Belarus' border with EU member states," the annotation reads.

The Ministry of the Interior states that the gathering of a large number of persons at border crossing points constitutes a significant public security risk, which has a significant impact on the enforcement of the border crossing regime, as there are several challenges related to the illegal crossing of the external border not only through the border crossing points, but also by bypassing them. In addition, the simultaneous concentration of many people near Latvia's border crossing points poses a high risk of riots aimed at undermining the border crossing point regime, which is a direct threat to Latvia's internal security.

The government will decide on the proposal this Tuesday, March 18.