(Bloomberg) -- Latvia’s government agreed to close one of two border checkpoints used by cars with Belarus after a surge of attempts by migrants to enter the Baltic country. 

The government made the decision on Tuesday after the border agency called for the move last week. The border guards have received help from Lithuania and Estonia after attempted illegal crossings made the situation “the most tense” since 2021, Guntis Pujats, head of the border guards said last week. 

Poland and the Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — have recently agreed to coordinate on a plan to shut the border in the event of an armed incident or an organized influx of migrants, but stopped short of imposing a broad closure. 

The closure of the Silene crossing will allow authorities to move personnel to the Paternieki checkpoint, the government said. 

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