Lithuanian Interior Minister Martinas Katilinas claims he is seeking ways to assist Latvia, but doubts that the requested 100 border guards will help resolve the crisis in the neighboring country. "We are assessing the possibilities of where we can draw them [border guards] from, to use as assistance to Latvia, and we hope to find such opportunities," the minister told reporters on Wednesday. "Figures were mentioned that they would like 100 border guards. Then I ask the question: if 100 people are really needed to solve the problem, perhaps the Latvians can mobilize their own army for peacetime tasks and use its capabilities for assistance," Katilinas noted. The minister emphasized that while all possibilities to help neighbors are being explored, the priority is the security of Lithuania's borders. "We always want them to do as much as possible themselves, and we as a state will contribute as much as we can, but my priority as a minister is our borders and the safety of our residents," he stressed. Earlier, Latvian Interior Minister Janis Dombrava told the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT that he expects more substantial assistance from Lithuania and believes that the neighboring country could send at least 100 border guards to Latvia. Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius, commenting on this proposal, doubted that Vilnius is capable of allocating such a number of personnel. Currently, nine Lithuanian border guards are working at the Latvian-Belarusian border, two of whom are dog handlers with service dogs. According to BNS agency, in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year, the flow of so-called secondary migration from Latvia increased from just over 300 to more than 1,200 foreigners. According to the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, this year, more than 8,000 migrants attempted to enter Latvia, were detained, and returned to Belarus or turned back by Latvian border guards on the Belarusian side. This is nearly nine times more than the attempts to enter Lithuania from Belarus.