Following the adoption of European sanctions, entry to Lithuania was denied to 34 trucks from Russia on Monday, 11 July. Long queues are already forming on Latvian-Russian border, because sanctions continue expanding to more and more goods carried to Kaliningrad, as reported by Lithuanian LRT.
Queues are also forming on Lithuanian-Belarusian border. One of the reason is because inspections a border checkpoints have become more thorough than before. On Raigardas border checkpoint, for example, queues stretch in both directions – Lithuania and Belarus.
«After the introduction of that additional package of sanctions, the queues disappeared for a couple of weeks […]. Now, the flows are only increasing, the queue is getting bigger. We have a 12-kilometres-long queue,» said Andrius Beloručkinas, commander in charge of Druskininkai border checkpoint.
Truckers from Belarus say the queues are becoming longer because the influx is increasing and inspections are more thorough.
«In Belarus, I’ve waited for 10 days […]. There are more controls because of sanctions. They check a lot.»
Another trucker told LRT: «I’m taking peat to the Czech Republic. It is better to go through Lithuania than Poland because here, you are allowed to enter with full fuel tanks».
At the Kybartai checkpoint there are only trucks with Russian registration plates waiting to enter Kaliningrad through Lithuania. Every day nearly 500 trucks pass through this checkpoint.
Russian carriers claim more than 400 trucks are waiting permission to enter Lithuania on Kaliningrad’s side of the border.
Delivery of goods also takes twice as long as before.
In the middle of June Lithuania imposed a ban on transit of steel and black metal products from Russia to its exclave of Kaliningrad. On 11 July sanctions were expanded with cement, alcohol and other products.
«There is now a stronger screening process for customs checks, taking into account the package of sanctioned goods. The focus is on transit goods,» said Vadimas Dikčius, head of the Kybartai checkpoint.
Transit restrictions are part of EU’s fourth package of sanctions against Russia, which was imposed in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. On 10 August sanctions will extend to coal and other solid fuels, and on 5 December – on Russian oil.
Full article can be found here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1737769/following-eu-sanctions-queues-form-on-lithuania-s-border-with-russia-belarus