Riga, March 18 (LETA) - The government on Tuesday approved a draft decision prepared by the Interior Ministry, which envisages that from March 19 Latvia's border crossing points with Russia and Belarus - Paternieki, Grebneva and Terehova - can be crossed only by motor vehicles.

The Interior Ministry had received a proposal from the State Border Guard on partial restrictions on Latvia's border with Russia and Belarus through the checkpoints Paternieki in Kraslava municipality, Grebneva and Terehova in Ludza munoicipality, closing border crossing for pedestrians and cyclists.

The draft decree does not specify the duration of the restrictions.

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.

Latvian authorities consider attempts by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko's regime to push migrants across Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish borders to be methods of hybrid warfare targeting these countries.

In October 2023 Latvia closed the border crossing points of Vientuli and Pededze, and in February 2024, the border crossing point of Silene were closed.