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Latvia investigates new underground route from Belarus · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: To Latvia now, where hidden beneath the country's border fence
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with Belarus, authorities have discovered a tunnel. They believe it
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: was built to smuggle migrants into the European Union. Latvia,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Lithuania and Poland accuse Belarus of deliberately creating a threat
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: at the EU's external border as part of a hybrid
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: attack strategy. DW's Yuri Resheto has this report.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Latvia says Belarus is using migration as a tool of
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  Speaker 2: hybrid warfare. This narrow hole in the ground is the
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: end of a secret tunnel. The Latvian border guard says
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  Speaker 2: 28 migrants used it to cross illegally from Belarus into Latvia.
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  Speaker 2: Authorities found them shortly after in the nearby town of
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  Speaker 2: Kraslava in eastern Latvia.
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  Speaker 3: We used our service dog, came here and showed the
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  Speaker 3: place and our border guard checked everything. all this area
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  Speaker 3: and found this tunnel.
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  Speaker 2: Most of the men are believed to be from Afghanistan.
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  Speaker 2: It's not the first attempt to cross the EU's border underground.
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  Speaker 2: Here in the Baltics, authorities believe Belarusian border guards are
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  Speaker 2: not just failing to stop this migration. They say it's
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  Speaker 2: part of Belarus' hybrid warfare strategy against the West. The
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  Speaker 2: border between Latvia and Belarus is 172 kilometers long and
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  Speaker 2: is protected by a modern border fence built only a
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  Speaker 2: few years ago. Last year, authorities stopped around 12,000 people
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  Speaker 2: from crossing illegally. In the first half of this year alone,
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  Speaker 2: that number has already reached 10,000. Belarus is a close
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  Speaker 2: ally of Russia.
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  Speaker 4: This has been going on since August 2021. Hybrid attacks
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  Speaker 4: and de-instrumentalization of migration, with migrants being deliberately directed to
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  Speaker 4: the border between Latvia and Belarus. At present, it can
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  Speaker 4: be said that Latvia has been chosen as the target country.
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  Speaker 2: Just a few days ago, Latvian border guards found another
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  Speaker 2: tunnel in Silene, only a few kilometers from here. That
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  Speaker 2: tunnel also led from Belarus over there into Latvia on
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the EU's eastern border. In neighboring Lithuania, border guards recently
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  Speaker 2: uncovered 12 illegal tunnels as well. They say 40 irregular
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  Speaker 2: migrants were arrested after coming out of the tunnels. The
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  Speaker 2: Lithuanian-Belarusian border is even longer, stretching some 700 kilometers. Border
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  Speaker 2: guards believe migrants are unlikely to build such tunnels on
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  Speaker 2: their own and suspect technical support was involved.
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  Speaker 3: This tunnel is approximately 30 meters, and we can say
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  Speaker 3: that some engineers work here.
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  Speaker 2: But according to authorities, neither Latvia nor Lithuania is the
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  Speaker 2: migrants' final destination. Most are trying to reach Western Europe,
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  Speaker 2: especially Germany. The goal, Western authorities say, is to destabilize Europe.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's bring in Yuri Recheta. He's the head of
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  Speaker 1: our Riga office in Latvia, where DW moved its Moscow
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: bureau after it was shut down by the authorities there.
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  Speaker 1: He also filed that earlier report there. Yuri, what more
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  Speaker 1: can you tell us about the latest developments?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Gerhard, the situation is very fluid, as the border
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  Speaker 2: authorities like to put it. What does that mean in practice?
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  Speaker 2: You know, if you go to the border, and I've
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  Speaker 2: been there several times over the past few months, you
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  Speaker 2: hardly see anything happening. You know, it's quiet. The real
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  Speaker 2: action happens at night. The fence is equipped with thermal
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  Speaker 2: cameras and those show that every night up to 100
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  Speaker 2: migrants try to cross the border illegally. So some use
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  Speaker 2: large ladders that can be placed on both sides of
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  Speaker 2: the fence. Others arrive simply with powerful cutting equipment and
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  Speaker 2: simply cut through the fence from the Belarusian side. Most
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  Speaker 2: of this is captured on camera. So sooner or later,
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  Speaker 2: the authorities spotted. The newest method, though, is much more sophisticated.
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  Speaker 2: The tunnels discovered so far were dug beneath the border
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  Speaker 2: barrier and were carefully concealed. Authorities say the exits can
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  Speaker 2: be difficult to spot and require either detection equipment or
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  Speaker 2: specially trained dogs. Seismic sensors can detect vibrations in the
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  Speaker 2: ground and indicate that a tunnel is being dug. That's
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  Speaker 2: something the Lithuanian border guards are already using. So it's
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  Speaker 2: really a cat and mouse game that has been going
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  Speaker 2: on for the last five years.
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  Speaker 1: Now, these tunnels, do they only point to using immigration
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  Speaker 1: as a weapon or do they also present a military problem?
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  Speaker 2: Well, officials say the tunnels appear to be linked to
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  Speaker 2: migrant smuggling, although security experts note that any secret cross-border
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  Speaker 2: route naturally leads raises broader security concerns. I would put
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  Speaker 2: it on that way. Potentially, the tunnel could also be used,
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  Speaker 2: for example, to smuggle weapons or stage provocations. In the
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  Speaker 2: context of what many describe as a hybrid war against Europe,
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  Speaker 2: soldiers could theoretically enter NATO territories or Russian soldiers through
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  Speaker 2: a tunnel like this, right? The exit hole is quite small,
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  Speaker 2: but the tunnel itself is actually spaces and well supported.
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  Speaker 2: If such tunnels were used for, let's say, provocations, not
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  Speaker 2: with tanks and missiles, but in a way designed to
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  Speaker 2: test Europe's and NATO's response. response, then some difficult questions
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  Speaker 2: would arise. What if hostile personnel crossed into NATO territory
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  Speaker 2: through a tunnel? Would that be enough to trigger NATO's
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  Speaker 2: Article 5, collective defence article? There are a lot of
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  Speaker 2: questions and not many clear answers. As for hybrid warfare,
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  Speaker 2: illegal migration is already being used as a tool. Poland
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  Speaker 2: used to be the main target. Now the focus appears
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  Speaker 2: to be shifting towards the Baltic states here.
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  Speaker 1: Now, give me an impression, how big is the problem?
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  Speaker 1: How many tunnels are there and will there be more
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  Speaker 1: to come?
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  Speaker 2: So I've discovered so far two tunnels here in Latvia
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  Speaker 2: and 12 in Lithuania, a neighbouring Lithuania. I asked the
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  Speaker 2: authorities exactly what they are expecting and I also asked
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  Speaker 2: what they plan to do with these tunnels. Simply filling
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  Speaker 2: them in is not so easy, they say, because they
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  Speaker 2: run underneath the border fence and the fence itself is
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  Speaker 2: equipped with a lot of sensitive technology. that extends underground.
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  Speaker 2: So the authorities have to be very careful. What is
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  Speaker 2: clear is that the tunnel will be sealed off, at
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  Speaker 2: least on the Latvian or Lithuanian side. And yes, the
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  Speaker 2: border guards expect that more tunnels will be discovered in
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  Speaker 2: the future. They didn't provide any further details, partly for
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  Speaker 2: security reasons, because they don't want to reveal too much publicly.
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  Speaker 2: But I also get an impression, Gerhard, that this underground
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  Speaker 2: threat is something relatively new to them, and they are
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  Speaker 2: still working out the best way to deal with it.
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  Speaker 1: Our correspondent, Yuri Resheta, there reporting. Thank you, Yuri.