2023-08-17 23:43:22
Lithuania has temporarily closed two of its six border crossings with the neighboring country in response to the presence of Russian Wagner mercenaries in Belarus. By decision of the government of the Baltic EU and NATO country, the two checkpoints Sumskas and Tverecius will be tight from Friday until further notice. The other border crossings between Lithuania and authoritarian Belarus should remain open.
Like Poland and Latvia, Lithuania is concerned about the activities of the Russian private army Wagner in the neighboring country, which is closely allied with Moscow. After the failed uprising against Moscow, their troops set up camp in Belarus. The situation is also tense because migrants from crisis areas want to get to Lithuania, which the Belarusian authorities tolerate or even promote in a targeted manner in order to create a political instrument of pressure.
According to Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite, concrete blocks and rolls of barbed wire should be erected at the two checkpoints after the border is closed. Border traffic will be diverted to the Medininkai crossing, the largest and best-equipped of the six checkpoints on Lithuania’s 680-kilometer border with Belarus. According to Bilotaite, this should also curb the smuggling of goods.
Border guard boss Rustamas Liubajevas expects the closure of the two checkpoints, which are mainly used by people and light vehicles, to have “no particular effects” on freight traffic across the border. According to him, about 600 people per day pass through the Tverecius border crossing and about 1,600 traveled in both directions via Sumskas.
Lithuanian hauliers were less confident and warned that queues at the border could get longer. However, they did not question the decision to close the two checkpoints. National security has priority, stressed the trucking companies.
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