Belarus accuses Poland of slow handling of cargo trucks at shared border

March 27, BPN. Poland has not complied with bilateral agreements regulating the passage of cargo trucks and is responsible for a “traffic collapse” at the shared border, the Belarusian State Border Committee said.

Last weekend, Polish border guards processed only 61 percent of the usual number of trucks, it noted. Since March 24, the queue at the Kazłovičy-Kukuryki border checkpoint, the only border crossing currently open for trucks, has doubled to 1,000 trucks, the border authority said.

Border guards also recorded similar delays in the clearance of large trucks at the Lithuanian checkpoints.

On March 26, border guards reported a five-kilometer queue of trucks at Raigardas-Pryvałka checkpoint, nearly nine-kilometer line at Medininkai-Kamenny Łoh and eight-kilometer queue at Lavoriškės-Katłoŭka, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service said. The waiting time to cross the border ranged from 37 to 70 hours.

Lithuanian border guards attributed longer queues to the closure of checkpoints at the Belarusian-Polish border, Belarusian border authorities noted.

Poland closed the key Bobrowniki road checkpoint after a Belarusian court sentenced Polish minority activist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison in early February. Belarus responded by restricting traffic for Polish lorries and tractor trucks.

On February 21, Poland blocked traffic of Belarusian trucks at the Kukuryki-Kazłovičy border checkpoint with Belarus. The decision by Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński came in response to restrictions imposed by the Belarusian authorities on Polish carriers.