Lithuania starts building first European wall to ward off migrants from Belarus

Belarusian and Lithuanian border mark poles are pictured near a four-meter-high fence on the Belarusian border in Druskininkai, Lithuania November 4, 2021. REUTERS/Janis Laizans

DRUSKININKAI, Lithuania (Reuters) - Lithuania has built the first stretches of a steel wall on its border with Belarus since migrants from the Middle East and other areas began entering from Belarus this year.

The European Union accuses Belarus of deliberately encouraging the migrants to enter EU states Poland, Lithuania and Latvia via Belarusian territory as a way of putting pressure on the bloc.