Belarus has attempted to direct irregular migrants across Latvia's green border into the EU since 2021. The border guard use pushbacks to try and stop people entering. While the situation is calmer now than at other times, Silina said the problems persist.

Data from the State Border Guard shows 5,388 persons have been stopped in 2024. This almost three times fewer than in 2023, public broadcaster LSM reported.

"It's still happening all the time," she said. "Still people are coming. Some days there are not so many, some days there are more," she added. 

Latvia has a heightened security situation in place on the border regions, the prime minister said. This means more border guards are patrolling and military assistance can be requested. But people smugglers are using new tactics.

"We have seen how they're trying to use fake police cars, fake border guard cars," she told ERR News. "So yes, smugglers are getting smarter and they're trying to use such tools to get into the country."

In one case, almost 50 people were found by the border guard in a single vehicle disguised as a police van.

"It really is dangerous and it doesn't stop. So they're just finding a new way how to get into the country. But we have been really very cautious and very focused on not letting smugglers use our system," Silina said.

In previous years, Estonia's Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) have sent officers to the border to help their Latvian counterparts.

Belarus uses similar hybrid tactics on the Lithuanian and Polish borders. Finland's border with Russia is still closed more than a year after migrants started arriving at its crossing points in large numbers.

Border security progressing

Similarly to Estonia and Poland, Latvia is constructing new security infrastructure on it's eastern border. A fence on the land border with Belarus has been completed and the section bordering Russia is under construction, the prime minister said. Further work will take place for the next 18 months on the marshy areas.

Speaking about the development of the Baltic defense line, which runs down the Baltic borders with Russia and Belarus, she said work is progressing.

While the government sees it as a good solution, she said, extra work needs to be done when explaining the plans to locals living in the Latvian municipalities on the border. Estonia also held public discussions in affected areas.

Silina said it's a "complex job" and more finances and resources are needed.

The prime minister said it is a "good opportunity" for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to have a "more or less united, coordinated strategy about how we will defend our borders."

JEF summit "valuable"

Silina spoke to ERR News at the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Leaders' Summit in Tallinn on Tuesday. She said the discussions focusing on Ukraine held by the 10 members were "valuable" and "very honest."

"For Latvia, it is important because all of the countries there have the same goal, and we just can already speak more deeply about strategies, what we can do, how we will do it," she said.

The prime minister said she was pleased with the agreement to check Russian shadow fleet vessels and that Latvia is ready to contribute.

Infrastructure protection

While Latvia has not seen any of its undersea cables damaged – as Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany have experienced – Silina said hybrid threats and attacks are still common.

Russia is interested in the country's infrastructure.

"We are sharing our intelligence [with NATO counties], so we are very well prepared and we can warn or we can inform other countries as well," she said.

Speaking about the situation across Europe and the wave of hybrid attacks, Silina said: "It's actually taking a lot of resources to investigate what's happening. We know the patterns and those things are sometimes small, but if you put the chain together you can see the pattern."

The prime minister said several people in Latvia have been handed criminal charges.

Situation in Georgia is 'sad'

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuana have raced ahead of the European Union and already sanctioned Georgian security officials for their part in violent protests in Tbilisi.

Silina called the democratic backsliding "sad."

"It's Georgia's society's decision where they will go. So, but what we can do to help them is not to lose faith," the prime minister said.

"If they will feel ready or they will need any assistance we can be there, we can politically be there. It is a sad thing to see because we know how hard it is to fight for freedom – we are lucky because we did the job 20 years ago."

"That's why we need to work pretty hard not to let it happen in Moldova and in Ukraine or other countries." 

Asked why Latvia has not sanctioned the Georgian prime minister, as Estonia and Lithuania have done, she said the situation is being assessed.

Latvia "grateful" to host NATO's air policing mission

Latvia hosted the NATO Air Policing Mission this year while Estonia's Ämari Air Base was refurbished. The two missions in the region are usually hosted in Lithuania and Estonia. Silina said Latvia's rotation "worked well".

Asked if she would like the mission to return, she said: "We would like to have air policing present all the time in all three Baltic states, for sure. But we know that the Estonians are ready to take it back. So we were polite, we were, how to say, grateful to help you out."

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