Linava President Erlandas Mikėnas has called on the Lithuanian government to take a concrete decision to secure the return of trucks stranded in Belarus. He said that tractor units remain parked at sites in Belarus, while both the state and carriers are incurring significant losses every day. In addition, he noted that there is no information about the resumption of traffic, Delfi reported, citing Elta.
Commenting on Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė’s statement that a large share of the stranded trucks are already operating between Lithuania and Belarus, Mikėnas said that carriers cannot confirm this information.
“Who provided this information to the prime minister can only be answered by her herself. Carriers taken hostage are meeting the holidays with disappointment, while the statements by the prime minister and the transport minister only irritate them. It is obvious that the losses of the government and carriers are not on the government’s list of priorities,” he said.
“The prime minister does not find time to meet with carriers who ended up in this situation due to mistakes made by the government, but does find time to meet participants of the Dakar Rally,” Mikėnas added.
He urged the government to adopt a concrete decision that would guarantee the return of the vehicles.
“Linava is asking not for symbolic gestures and declarations, but for a clear, official and transparent decision that will ensure the real return of all tractor units belonging to Lithuanian carriers, not the illusion that the problem is being solved or has already been solved,” Mikėnas said.
Earlier, on December 23, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said that a significant share of trucks belonging to Lithuanian carriers that had been blocked in Belarus had already returned to operation.
“We have information that a significant number of trucks are already continuing to operate, travelling between Lithuania and Belarus, a small number are still in Belarus, we are working on this, but the situation is being resolved gradually,” she said.
Ruginienė did not specify how many trucks had resumed operations on their routes.
On the same day, Transport Minister Juras Taminskas said he could not confirm this information. According to him, Linava must first calculate how many tractor units are in Belarus and provide the data to the government. He stressed that until Linava submits these figures, the issue will not be discussed.
