Lithuania’s ministers of foreign affairs and transport, Kęstutis Budrys and Juras Taminskas, have sent a letter to the European Commission requesting assistance in returning Lithuanian trucks stranded in Belarus, as well as considering additional sanctions against Belarusian officials. The report comes from LRT, citing the BNS agency.
The ministers asked the European Commission (EC) to help bring back tractor units stuck in Belarus and to impose further sanctions against the Minsk authorities for smuggling gas cylinders.
The letter includes a request to “prepare and present a consistent EU action plan aimed at supporting European carriers in Belarus, as well as addressing the security problem at the Lithuania–Belarus border created by the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, including smuggling balloons”.
EU commissioners for external relations and transport, Kaja Kallas and Apostolos Tzitzikostas, are asked “to demand at EU level the full and unconditional release of European carriers and their property unlawfully held on the Belarusian side”. The European Commission is also urged to support Lithuania’s initiative to introduce new sanctions against Minsk, including for organising meteorological balloon flights.
Lithuanian trucks were blocked in Belarus after Lithuania closed the border in response to regular meteorological balloons carrying smuggled tobacco products. Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė earlier said that around 280 trucks remain in Belarus. The carriers’ association Linava claims the total number of Lithuanian vehicles in the country is about 4,000, of which 1,250 are tractor units.
Lithuanian carriers also say they have received warnings from the Belarusian authorities: after four months at special parking sites, the trucks may be confiscated.
