"There are reasons to extend the state of emergency and we will submit this proposal to the Cabinet with certain amendments, taking into account that practice and arising new needs," she told journalists on Wednesday.

The situation has not improved since the number of migrants in Belarus has not changed yet and the situation near the border with Poland has not improved either, the minister said.

"We view the situation as having not improved since there are still some 7,000 to 15,000 migrants in Belarus and they have not been returned to their countries of origin yet. We see the situation at the Belarusian-Polish border, and tensions have not gone down really," Bilotaite said.

There are also other risks justifying the extension of the state of emergency, the minister said.

"We also see new evolving tendencies when attempts are made to damage the concertina or the physical barrier and that allegedly involves Belarusian officers. And we also see risks of secondary migration," the minister said.

"We see attempts to look for new ways to organize human smuggling, involving Belarusian and Ukrainian citizens. And we also see attempts by our groups from the criminal world to cooperate with Belarusian criminals," she added.

Since early August when Lithuania introduced push-backs, a total of 7,692 foreigners have been prevented from entering Lithuania from Belarus.

Almost 4,200 irregular migrants have crossed into Lithuania from Belarus illegally so far this year.

Vilnius accuses the Minsk regime of orchestrating the unprecedented migration influx, calling it "hybrid aggression".

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