In a Facebook post in Arabic, Kurdish and English, the foreign minister warned on Monday that very few incoming people would get political refugee status in Lithuania.
"Those people who tempt you with an easy way to get into the EU – they want to deceive you, they want to rob you of your money, exploiting your credulity or ignorance. They promise you that after you‘ve paid a lot of money – and we know that you are paying thousands of Euros, – you will arrive in the EU. They tell you that you will be able to live and work in the EU – and that they will ensure you cross the border into the EU," Landsbergis wrote, adding that after landing in Minks, citizens of these countries are taken to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border, given empty hopes.
"In a few days those swindlers, who closely collaborate with the criminals and with Belarusian dictator Lukashenko, will take you at night to the EU border. They will let you out in the forest and will tell you: go there, that‘s where Europe is, and nobody is guarding the border.
This is a lie. You will be apprehended by the Lithuanian border guards and transferred to a tent camp. Because you were involved in a cunning crime, virtually no one of you will receive asylum and be recognized as a refugee," the Lithuanian foreign minister warned.
He also pointed out that migrants are housed in a tent camp and ways will be looked for to send them back home.
"And you will go home. But you will go home without the money you have paid for the trip. You will not get any further into Europe. Even if you escape from the tent camp, you will be returned back – either by our police, or by the police in our neighbor countries. Because this is what we are committed to – to be responsible for those who get inside our country," Landsbergis underlined.
"You can only get inside the European Union using a legitimate path. Don‘t trust those impostors, don‘t try to travel to Europe illegally – because you will have to go back home in the end.
Those people are lying to you. You don‘t have to be their accomplice in crime," the minister warned.
Over 1,900 illegal migrants have been detained in Lithuania so far this year, having crossed from Belarus. A state-level emergency is in place in Lithuania amid the recent spike of illegal migration.
Lithuanian officials say the Belarusian regime is behind the recent spike in illegal migration as tensions between Minsk and Vilnius rose after last year's contested presidential election in Belarus.