EU state launches anti-migration drills on Ukrainian border

Slovakia has begun exercises aimed at combating illegal migration and smuggling on its border with Ukraine, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said on Friday, as cited by state media.

The goal of the drills is to reduce the pressure from irregular migration on the external Schengen border, Sutaj Estok explained, adding that the authorities are seeking to deter and detain smugglers, carrying cigarettes, drugs, and weapons into the country.

“The main objective is to prevent the illegal entry of risk-related or interest groups into Slovakia,” he told journalists, adding that the number of attempts to illegally cross the border with Ukraine has recently increased.

He went on to say that the Interior Ministry is planning to improve the video observation system and drone technology currently in place.

More than 400 officers are taking part in the drills, which are set to last until Saturday, according to the president of the police force, Lubomir Solak.

The president of the Bureau of Border and Alien Police, Jan Dudas, said nearly 700 people have attempted to cross the Ukrainian border since the beginning of the year, and that they were mostly Ukrainian men likely trying to avoid conscription.

“These people, if they do not pose a security risk, usually ask for temporary shelter. They thus remain under the protection of the Slovak Republic. We don’t send them back if they don’t pose a threat,” Dudas said.

Slovakia has long been a transit country for migrants, including those from the Middle East and Afghanistan attempting to reach Western Europe, after crossing into the EU via the Balkan corridor, through Hungary from Serbia.

Since February 2022, when the Ukraine conflict with Russia escalated, the nation became an entry point for refugees from Ukraine. As of the end of March this year, Slovakia counted a total of 118,425 migrants from the neighboring state, according to Eurostat data.

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