Фото: ГТК
Since the beginning of the week until midnight Sunday, a total of 272 trucks detained in Belarus have returned to Lithuania through the Medininkai and Šalčininkai border crossings. This was reported by Giedrius Mišutis, a representative of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, writes LRT citing BNS.
According to him, 163 trucks returned through Medininkai and 109 through Šalčininkai. Most drivers of the returning vehicles are Belarusian citizens with residence permits in Lithuania—238 people—while 27 are Lithuanian citizens.
“Quite a lot have passed through, and there have been clarifications. The figures are constantly being уточняются,” Mišutis said.
He noted that throughput at the border crossings has increased due to a larger number of customs officers, but waiting times are also growing along with the rising flow of traffic. According to morning data, trucks at Medininkai are waiting about eight hours, compared with two to three hours previously. At Šalčininkai, waiting times are around three hours.
In total, according to Belarus’s State Customs Committee, more than 1,900 vehicles had been held at special parking sites. They had been detained in Belarus since November last year, when Aliaksandr Lukashenka ordered vehicles with Lithuanian registration to be taken to designated lots and charged parking fees. On Monday, following talks with the United States, he decided that the trucks could leave Belarus after their owners paid the parking charges. The first trucks, which had spent about four months at the sites, crossed the border on Tuesday morning.