Hundreds of Lithuanian trucks stuck in Belarus after border closure

AI translation – DeepL

After Lithuania closed its border with Belarus for a month on 29 October, several hundred trucks belonging to Lithuanian transport companies were unable to return to the country.

As reported by the BNS agency, the Lithuanian government decided to close the border with Belarus for a month, until 30 November. The Šalčininkai-Beniakoni border crossing is completely closed, and traffic through the Medininkai-Kamenny Log crossing is restricted: only diplomats, persons with simplified transit documents, Lithuanian citizens returning to the country and their families, EU and NATO citizens with family members, as well as foreigners with a residence permit in Lithuania or a humanitarian visa are allowed to cross the border.

The reason for the decision was the launch of weather balloons carrying contraband cigarettes from Belarusian territory.

According to representatives of the National Association of Road Carriers ‘Linava’, some carriers are forced to return via Latvia or Poland, but huge queues have formed at the border crossings of these countries, which means that some trucks cannot pass through there either.

‘In addition, dozens of vehicles are currently unable to leave through Latvian or Polish border crossings because they had already been cleared by Belarus, but after the border was closed, they were not allowed to return to Lithuania,’ said Narunas Raulinaitis, Secretary General of the association.

Source: lrt.lt