Lithuania asks EU for help in resolving migration crisis

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has said in a telephone conversation with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell that the EU must take an active part in finding a solution to the influx of illegal migrants from Asia and Africa

“Lithuania is working intensively on the problem of illegal migration, but maximum efforts of the EU institutions are also needed, especially in the dialogue with governments of migrant origin countries in both the Middle East and Africa”, –  the Lithuanian minister said.

Landsbergis said Vilnius was “doing its homework”: detaining illegals, placing them in special centres, cutting off the possibility of further trafficking to Western countries, strengthening the border and negotiating with Iraq and Turkey, where migrants tend to start their illegal journey.

Arnoldas Abramavicius, Lithuania’s Vice Minister of the Interior, said the country has encountered a shortage of barbed wire to build a barrier on the border with Belarus, through which migrants are entering en masse.