"There are packages adapted for men, there are those meant for women and there are those meant for children. We had some 2,000 packages and have used only 500 so far. The storage facility is full of those items and we have those packages and other items migrants might need in our patrol vehicles and definitely border guards always gave them out without any problems," Giedrius Misutis, spokesman for the SBGS, told the public radio LRT.
Although Misutis said all migrants who need assistance are taken care of, Rita Skriadaite, the founder of Sienos Grupe, a group that aims to help migrants, is criticizing officers for not providing possibilities for NGOs to provide assistance to migrants, not providing information on their state and turning away some people without providing assistance, even though they need help.
Misutis says migrants receive all assistance and urged NGOs to inform about migrants they meet in time.
Lithuania decided to urgently organize the distribution of humanitarian packages to migrants who are turned away on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border in late October. Such packages include dry ration, water and essential items.
More than 4,200 irregular migrants have crossed into Lithuania from Belarus illegally so far this year. Lithuania and other Western countries accuse the Minsk regime of orchestrating the unprecedented migration influx, calling it "hybrid aggression".
Lithuanian border guards say they have turned away almost 7,900 migrants since early August, but the number may include repeated attempts by the same people to cross the border.