Lithuania Faces Crisis Over Migrant Shot Dead by Border Guard

The debate in Lithuania over border guards’ use of force has intensified amid attacks by migrants and legal action against officers for using firearms.

LRT.lt reports that Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said border guards should be allowed to use greater force to protect themselves and the country.

“We’ve reached a point where officers sometimes hesitate to use their firearms simply because they know it could result in lengthy court proceedings,” Kaunas said.

In Lithuania, a court case is currently underway against border guard Karolis Ilgevičius, who is accused of murder and abuse of office.

In June 2024, border guards near the Belarusian border spotted a VW Passat whose driver ignored their order to stop and attempted to flee. Karolis opened fire at the vehicle, with the second shot fatally wounding the driver. Officers later found around 4,500 packs of smuggled cigarettes inside the car.

The issue is particularly significant for Lithuania amid hybrid pressure from Belarus, as border guards’ hesitation to use firearms could create additional opportunities for provocations and aggressive attempts to breach the border.

The issue came into sharper focus following an incident on July 26 in the Lazdijai area.

Border guards there discovered a tunnel that migrants had allegedly been using to enter Lithuania illegally.

After several people were detained, around 20 more migrants emerged from the tunnel and attacked the border guards. According to media reports, one of the officers was forcibly dragged toward Belarusian territory.

The interior minister said he had concerns about the border service’s leadership over what he described as inadequate communication. He was initially told only that a tunnel had been discovered, while he learned about the migrants’ attack from the media. Against the backdrop of the incident, the head of Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT), Lubajevas, resigned.

Since the beginning of this year, Lithuanian border guards have already prevented nearly 1,000 illegal migrants from entering the country. By comparison, more than 1,600 attempts to illegally cross the border from Belarus were recorded in 2024, while 1,002 were recorded in 2023.

A mass influx of migrants along the European Union’s eastern borders began in 2021. The EU has repeatedly accused the Belarusian authorities of orchestrating migration pressure on EU member states.