HELSINKI: The European Union’s border agency is pledging to significantly step up its support to Lithuania in the coming days due to the growing migratory pressure at Lithuanias border with Belarus that the Baltic nation is trying to contain.

The decision by Frontex, the agency responsible for coordinating border control between EU member states and third countries, was announced late Saturday following a video call between Frontexs Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.

Lithuanias border is our common external border and Frontex stands ready to help where needed, Leggeri said in a statement. We are ready to strengthen our level of support and deploy more European standing corps officers and equipment to Lithuania, an EU and Nato member of 2.8 million.

Frontex’s operation, which started earlier this month with the deployment of a dozen officers and patrol cars, will more than double next week, the agency said.

Nausedas office said separately that reinforcements pledged by Frontex were expected to reach Lithuania by July 15 and that some armed border patrols and additional translators arrived over the weekend. In addition, a patrol helicopter will be sent to Lithuania from neighboring Poland and discussions were under way to dispatch another helicopter from Germany, Nauseda’s office said.

In a tweet, Nauseda thanked Frontex for its support to manage flows of illegal migrants through eastern border with Belarus, another former Soviet republic that is not in the EU.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2021