Closure of border checkpoints aimed at resolving issues of national security, smuggling, and violations of international sanctions.
Lithuania closes two more border checkpoints with Belarus
Lithuania has closed two more border checkpoints with Belarus — the Lavryshysky and Raigardsky checkpoints — on the night of February 29 to March 1. This was reported by LRT.
The closure of the checkpoints is aimed at resolving issues of national security, smuggling, and violations of international sanctions.
From March 1, pedestrian and bicycle traffic will also be suspended through the border checkpoints in Myadyninkai and Shalchininkai, and embarkation and disembarkation of passengers will be prohibited at the railway border checkpoints of Kena and Kybartai, with the exception of exceptional cases, for which the Border Guard Service will make decisions.
It was also decided to limit by 50 percent the number of permits issued to Belarusian and Lithuanian carriers providing regular international passenger bus services.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania, last year citizens crossing the automobile border checkpoints on the state border with Belarus were checked nearly 3.9 million times — a quarter more than in 2022. Two-thirds of the individuals checked were Belarusian citizens.
Earlier it was reported that Lithuania will check 18,000 Belarusians who did not fill out a special questionnaire.
