Belarus has tightened restrictions on vehicles from Poland and Lithuania

The Belarusian government has imposed new restrictions on the movement of trucks registered in the EU through the territory of the republic. The corresponding decree has been published on the National Legal Portal.

Trucks and tractors registered in European Union member states may only travel through Belarus between road border crossing points and specially designated areas for cargo operations, transshipment and refuelling. Such vehicles are permitted to travel empty between specially designated areas.

According to the document, additional restrictions are introduced for vehicles, as well as trailers and semi-trailers registered in Poland and Lithuania. For such vehicles, entry is restricted to the Belarusian-Polish and Belarusian-Lithuanian border sections, respectively, and cargo operations, transshipment and refuelling are restricted to specially designated areas assigned to such sections.

The ban also applies to situations where a tractor unit has arrived from a third country but is towing a trailer from Poland or Lithuania.

Similar restrictions are being introduced for passenger cars registered in Poland and engaged in international transport in accordance with individual waybills or international consignment notes ‘CMR’.

These rules do not apply to the transport of special cargo: mail, medicines, animals, medical and humanitarian cargo.

The decree is valid until 31 December 2027.

As a reminder, on 16 April 2022, Belarus introduced a ban on EU-registered carriers travelling through its territory in response to the ban on Belarusian and Russian road hauliers transporting goods through the European Union, including in transit. Vehicles and tractors registered in the European Union may enter Belarus through checkpoints only at specially designated locations for cargo operations and transshipment.

The new document is the Belarusian authorities’ response to the ‘unfriendly actions’ of Western countries towards Belarus. It was introduced shortly after Lithuania and Poland announced the partial reopening of border crossings with Belarus, which had previously been closed due to political tensions and border incidents involving migrants and reconnaissance balloons.