Lithuania has temporarily closed two more border crossings with neighboring Belarus for safety reasons. By decision of the government of the Baltic EU and NATO country, the two checkpoints at Lavoriskes and Raigardas will be closed from Friday.
This means that only two of the six border crossings along the nearly 420-mile border between Lithuania and authoritarian Belarus will remain open.
The government in Vilnius had previously closed the two border crossings Sumskas and Tverecius in the summer of 2023. This means that only the Medininkai and Salcininkai checkpoints are open and that it is no longer possible for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the border.
Passenger boarding and disembarkation will also be restricted at rail border controls in Kena and Kybartai, where transit trains traveling between Russia and Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad via Lithuania stop.
This is intended to ensure better control of the flow of goods, transport and people across the border. Attempts to import and export sanctioned goods and smuggling must also be curbed.
“Iron Curtains” raised
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanowskaya was critical of the closure of the border crossings. This would create “iron curtains”, said the politician living in exile in Lithuania. The government in Vilnius rejected this. Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite stressed that Lithuania will continue to keep a humanitarian corridor open for “people fleeing the regime.”
Source: Krone
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