Lithuania is reinforcing its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave with up to 100 soldiers, anticipating possible arrivals of Russian men seeking to escape military mobilisation. Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas described the deployment as a precaution intended to support overstretched border guards, an interior ministry statement said on October 8. 

The deployment highlights the pressure on Lithuania’s border security resources as officials prepare for potential asylum requests alongside threats from instrumentalised migration. Although authorities say the frontier remains calm and the national threat level is unchanged, the government wants additional personnel available should conditions deteriorate.

“We can face people trying to evade mobilization and seeking to enter Lithuanian territory to request asylum,” Katelynas told reporters in parliament, LRT.lt reported.

The minister requested military support after reviewing information from security institutions and border agencies. He said the State Border Guard Service lacked sufficient personnel to manage all existing demands along Lithuania’s frontiers with Russia and Belarus.

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas announced the deployment on October 7. Soldiers were expected to begin assisting border guards the following day, with up to 100 personnel authorised to serve through October 16.

Katelynas also pointed to an incident on Latvia’s Belarusian border as evidence of increasingly aggressive tactics surrounding irregular migration. According to Latvia’s armed forces, masked, armed individuals accompanied at least 20 migrants, threatened Latvian soldiers and pushed the group towards Latvian territory.

The escorts subsequently crossed the border themselves, damaged an electricity distribution box and stole surveillance cameras before returning to Belarus.

Lithuanian officials nevertheless reported no immediate escalation at their own borders. Border Guard Service adviser Giedrius Misutis told ELTA that conditions near Kaliningrad were calm, while no irregular migrants had been detected along the Belarusian frontier for five consecutive days.