Queues at Belarus-EU borders growing
Beniakoni border crossing on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border
April 8, Pozirk. The queue of passenger cars, buses and trucks waiting to enter the European Union from Belarus keeps growing, Pozirk‘s analysis of the State Border Committee data showed.
As of 10 am on April 8, 735 passenger cars were waiting to leave for the EU at Belarusian checkpoints, including 500 Poland-bound vehicles and 35 buses in Brest and 235 cars at the border with Lithuania.
A total of 2,490 trucks are awaiting border processing, including 830 at the Latvian border and 1,660 at the Lithuanian border.
Belarusian border guards regularly accuse their EU counterparts of slow clearance of trucks and sometimes even inaction.
In 2023, Belarus’ Western neighbors closed several border crossings.
In August 2023, Lithuania closed its Šumskas and Tverečius checkpoints, and in March 2024, Lavoriškės and Raigardas, leaving only Medininkai and Šalčininkai to handle the cross-border traffic. Vilnius cited national security, smuggling and international sanctions as the reasons.
In February 2023, after Belarus had sentenced journalist and Polish minority activist Andrej Pačobut (Andrzej Poczobut) to eight years in prison, Poland closed a key crossing at the shared border, Bobrowniki, until further notice. Currently, travelers can cross the Polish-Belarusian border only in Terespol.
In September 2023, Latvia closed the Silene border crossing indefinitely, citing concerns about illegal migration from Belarus.
Trucks waiting 24-36 hours after closure of Lithuania checkpoints
March 7, Pozirk. Traveler traffic rose by 10 percent at the Medininkai and Šalčininkai border crossings that remain open between Lithuania and Belarus after Vilnius closed down two checkpoints on March 1, Sigitas Volainis, a Lithuanian border official, told Delfi. …