According to the representative of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), Giedriaus Mišutis, the queues were formed due to increased traffic flows and the closure of several border points in the states of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
“There are several reasons why this situation has arisen. The first reason is the large flows of cargo transportation that pass through Lithuania as a transit country. (…) Another thing is that the customs procedures have lengthened, and they have lengthened because, as we know, due to the war in Ukraine, the sanctions imposed on Russia, Belarus, the transportation of goods and the checks carried out by fellow customs officers are quite long”, – LRT G. Mišutis said to the radio on Saturday.
“Another important circumstance is that our neighboring countries, that is, Poland and Latvia, each have only one functioning border control point on their borders with Belarus, through which long lines of trucks also stretch,” he added.
G. Mišutis also noted that the coming Orthodox Easter “also means that the transportation of more goods has become more active, just like before any holidays”.
According to the VSAT representative, most of the truck drivers are Belarusians.
“Those who are standing now, most of them are citizens of Belarus. There are quite a few truck drivers waiting for Russian citizens. Also those who go via Kaliningrad transit through Lithuania to Russia via Belarus. Also, the majority of drivers are Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Uzbeks,” G. Mišutis told LRT radio.
“There are really very few truck drivers who are citizens of Lithuania, Poland, or Latvia,” he emphasized.
According to G. Mišutis, although queues at the border are currently long, they are not record high “and this is not the worst situation that has existed during the existence of border checkpoints”.
On March 1, Lithuania closed the Lavoriškii and Raigard border crossings, and last summer Lithuania also closed two border crossings – Šumsko and Tverečias. At the moment, only the Medininkai and Šalčininkai points are operating on the border with Belarus.
Lithuanian institutions claim that their closure aims to solve the problems of national security, smuggling, violations of international sanctions. The same decisions were taken by Poland and Latvia, which also border Belarus, and they currently have one functioning border point each.
