VILNIUS, July 21 (LETA--BNS) - A new group of Lithuanian border guards is heading to Latvia on Monday to help protect its border with Belarus.

Lithuania is deploying eight officers from the Pagegiai and Coast Guard Frontier Districts to the neighboring country, according to the State Border Guard Service (SBGS).

The group, which includes two dog handlers with service dogs and two criminal intelligence officers, will replace Lithuanian border guards who have been stationed in Latvia since July 7.

The team is expected to remain at the Latvian-Belarusian border until August 1, after which further decisions on such assistance will be made based on the situation.

SBGS officers assist their Latvian colleagues in monitoring the border, preventing illegal migration and carrying out other related tasks.

More than 7,000 migrants have tried to cross into Latvia from Belarus or have been deterred by Latvian border guards while still on Belarusian territory - 7.5 times more than the number of attempted crossings into Lithuania.

Lithuania has barred a total of 942 irregular migrants from entering from Belarus this year.

Lithuanian border guards have provided similar assistance in the past. In the fall of 2023, several SBGS teams - 59 officers in total - were sent to protect Latvia’s border with Belarus.

Lithuanian officers also took part in a similar mission at the Latvian-Belarusian border in August last year.

The influx of irregular migrants into the EU's eastern member states from Belarus began in 2021 and is blamed on the Minsk regime by the West.

Lithuanian border guards have blocked around 23,800 attempts by foreign nationals to cross into the country illegally from Belarus since the start of the migration crisis.