Vilnius

Vilnius – Foreign Minister Anže Logar attended the Future of Democracy forum in Vilnius on Friday and held talks with his Lithuanian and Latvian counterparts dedicated to the situation on the border with Belarus.

Ljubljana/Brussels – EU leaders will gather in Brdo pri Kranju on Tuesday for a strategic debate on the EU’s international role in the light of developments in Afghanistan, the AUKUS security partnership and relations with China. On Wednesday, the Slovenian EU presidency will host an EU-Western Balkans summit, but no significant developments are expected.

Lithuanian border guards stopped more than 2,000 illegal Asian and African migrants coming from Belarus over the month of tough measures in force in the Baltic nation to prevent breaches of its territory,

"Over the past month since the government decided on an enhanced border protection policy, over 2,000 illegal migrants have been pushed back to Belarus," the statement says.

Vilnius – Slovenian football champions Mura advanced to the play-off round of qualifying for the UEFA Europa League after beating Lithuanian champions Zalgiris 1:0 in the return leg in Vilnius on Thursday evening. In the last qualifying round, starting on 19 August, the club from Murska Sobota will play against Austria’s Sturm Graz.

Rokas Pukinskas, a spokesman for Lithuania's State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said only two persons - a woman and child - had been detained on August 6, while around 100 persons trying to cross the border were turned back and told to go to an official border crossing to apply for asylum. As yet, no one has appeared at the official border points, he noted.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, said, during his intervention on behalf of Romania during the Ukraine Reform Conference, organized in hybrid system, in Vilnius, that Romania continues to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Lithuania plans to build a barrier on the border with Belarus and deploy troops to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into its territory, news wires reported. According to PM Ingrida Simonyte, more than 1,000 migrants had been held after crossing the border since 1 June.

Ankara is ready to host a future conference to show support for Ukraine's reform efforts, Turkey's foreign minister said on July 7.

Speaking at the Fourth Ukraine Reform Conference in Lithuania's capital Vilnius, Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu voiced Turkey's support and solidarity with Ukraine "on its path of reforms."

The Turkish foreign minister is set to visit Lithuania to attend a conference on Ukraine, the country's foreign ministry said on July 6.

Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will participate in the fourth Ukraine Reform Conference (URC), which will be held on July 6-7 in the capital Vilnius, the ministry said in a statement.

The Council of Europe on Monday said several EU candidate countries in the Balkans had aligned themselves with the Council Decision to strengthen restrictive measures on Belarus by introducing a ban on the overflight of EU airspace and access to EU airports of Belarusian carriers of all kinds.