© Reuters / Petr Josek
People wait at a customs post at the renovated pedestrian crossing between Slovakia and Ukraine at the east Slovakian village of Velke Slemence.
People wait at a customs post at the renovated pedestrian crossing between Slovakia and Ukraine at the east Slovakian village of Velke Slemence.
"We can speak of thousands of illegal migrants from Ukraine who are motivated to cross the Schengen borders in our or other zones," said Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico at the GLOBSEC annual conference in the country's capital, Bratislava, reported Itar-Tass.
Meanwhile, organized criminal groups have recently been stepping up illegal transportation of migrants across the Slovak-Ukrainian border, according to Mr Fico.
Slovakia borders Ukraine's Transcarpathia region in the West. This is Ukraine's shortest border - only 98 km long.
In February, Jozef Danko, spokeman for the Slovakian village of Vysne Nemecke on the border with Ukraine, told Voice of Russia radio that the inflow of vehicles from Ukraine has recently increased, not only from the nearest cities which border Vysne Nemecke but also from other parts of Ukraine.
"If earlier there were many cars from Uzhhorod [Ukrainian city] and Transcarpathia [region], now there are more cars from Kiev," he added.
