Alexander Lukashenko introduces a ban on trucks from Poland and Lithuania. The transport industry is sounding the alarm
The ban hits the transport sector, which plays a key role in transporting goods between China and the European Union via Russia and Belarus. The ELTA agency points out that many transport companies operating in this area have their headquarters in the Baltic countries and Poland, employing employees from Central Asia, Georgia and Ukraine. Lithuanian media emphasize that Lukashenko's decision is a reaction to the earlier actions of Poland and Lithuania, which closed their borders with Belarus.
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Last week, Lithuania decided to close the border following incidents such as airspace violations by weather and smuggling balloons originating from Belarus. Meanwhile, Poland plans to partially open its border crossings. Polish government spokesman Adam Szłapka told PAP that Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene agreed that the crossings in Bobrowniki and Kuźnica could be opened “on a trial basis” in mid-November, after consultations with Lithuania.
The situation is causing serious concerns in the transport industry. Povilas Driżas, Secretary General of the International Transport and Logistics Alliance (TTLA), assessed that the negative effects of closing the border are already starting to be felt. According to him, Lithuania may lose its importance on the logistics and trade mapj. Olegas Tarasovas, vice-president of the Lithuanian association of road carriers “Linava”, in an interview with LRT described the situation as “close to disaster”. In his opinion, if the border remains closed, Lithuanian carriers may be completely eliminated from the market.
Details of Lukashenko's decree were published on the Belarusian National Legal Portal. It covers not only trucks and tractors registered in Poland and Lithuania, but also passenger cars carrying out international transport on the basis of consignment notes.
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The crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border has been going on for a long time. The crossing in Kuźnica was closed in November 2021 after an attack involving migrants, and the crossing in Bobrowniki was closed in February 2023, when the Belarusian regime sentenced Andrzej Poczobut, an activist of the Union of Poles in Belarus. The pandemic led to the closure of the crossing in Połowce, and currently only the railway crossings in Kuźnica and Siemianówka remain open, serving only freight traffic.
