Литовские фуры. Скриншот видео ГТК.
Lithuanian transport companies are expecting a possible confiscation of trucks stranded in Belarus. The four-month storage period for vehicles on special parking lots expires on March 10, BNS reports.
Last year Lithuania closed its border with Belarus in response to frequent flights of meteorological balloons carrying cigarette smuggling loads. In response, Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordered vehicles and semi-trailers with Lithuanian registration plates to be taken to special parking areas. It was announced that a fee of €120 per day would be charged for the trucks, and that the vehicles would be confiscated if payments were not made. Later it was stated that the trucks would be confiscated after four months of storage.
“We have no indications that the confiscation of vehicles has already been announced, but we have received information from the Belarusian side that the four-month period expires on March 10, and then some decision should be made,” BNS quotes the head of the Linava association, Erlandas Mikėnas, as saying.
According to him, a decision should be taken in the coming days. The Lithuanian side has not received any official notifications from Belarus.
Mikėnas added that there are also some encouraging signals from Belarus.
“There are some encouraging signals, but I cannot comment on them yet because they are not confirmed. However, as I said before, the situation must somehow change one way or another,” he said.
Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs views the threat of confiscating vehicles as a tool of pressure from Minsk.
“Threats to confiscate vehicles after four months of forced ‘storage’ are seen as another attempt by the regime to exert pressure. We are assessing different scenarios and possible response measures. We have not received any direct message from the Belarusian side regarding a possible confiscation of vehicles,” the ministry said in a comment to BNS.
The agency notes that the exact number of detained trucks remains unclear. According to Linava, more than 1,400 trucks and semi-trailers were detained in Belarus. However, the National Crisis Management Centre says that 868 vehicles have already returned to Lithuania. Linava notes that the returned vehicles may not have been placed in special parking lots.
“We have no grounds to claim that some vehicles have already returned, but there are facts confirming their return. However, as far as we know, the returned vehicles were not in customs parking areas but in private parking lots or at clients’ premises,” Mikėnas said.