MINSK, 17 March (BelTA) – Belarus has repeatedly attempted to resolve the situation with Lithuanian trucks through political and diplomatic means, but Vilnius refused to engage in dialogue, Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Sekreta said following the meeting of Belarusian Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin with Lithuanian and Polish carriers, BelTA has learned.
International road carriers applied to the Belarusian president with a request to help resolve the situation with the Lithuanian-registered trucks. Foreign carriers have essentially been abandoned to the whims of fate by their own governments. Due to politically motivated decisions by their governments, including transit restrictions and the closure of border checkpoints, about 1,000 trucks with Lithuanian registration have found themselves blocked and deprived of the opportunity to work normally on their usual routes. The Belarusian president considered their request and, guided by humanitarian grounds, instructed the prime minister to meet with the carriers and listen to their position.
“From the very start, when the situation arose four months ago, numerous attempts were made to resolve this problem through political and diplomatic means. Countless attempts were made to get in touch with Lithuania. Moreover, not only within the framework of Minsk-Vilnius track but also in international organizations. We clearly signaled that we were ready for dialogue and an exchange of views. But for some reason, Vilnius regarded and still regards any contacts at the political level as its own defeat. We shared these conclusions and assumptions with representatives of other Western states. But they do not understand what the defeat consists of. If there is a problem at the border, it needs to be solved, and neighbors are probably best equipped to handle it directly,” Igor Sekreta said.
He noted that third countries had offered their mediation services. "But our answer was this: we are not at war, we have not broken off diplomatic relations. We share a border, which should function normally. This message was conveyed in all our statements, interviews, and comments. A border is an extremely complex political and infrastructural mechanism; it does not operate like a private shop: I want to open it, I want to close it. If we have agreed and concluded an agreement, then the throughput capacity must be ensured 24/7. The proper regime of border protection must be ensured, and most importantly, regardless of the situation in our capitals, normal working contacts must be maintained that facilitate the safe crossing of the border not only for citizens of the two countries, but also for citizens of third countries. Let me remind you, the victims here were not only Poles and Lithuanians. Citizens of many other countries who were transporting goods and counted on the fact that they would always be able to safely travel through the territory of Belarus and Lithuania also suffered,” the deputy minister of foreign affairs noted.
According to him, the Poles suffered twice in this situation. “The first time Poland closed the border was allegedly due to the Zapad 2025 exercise. Carriers quickly began to re-register their vehicles in Lithuania, because the Lithuanians at that time made good money by transporting Polish goods. But when Lithuania closed the border, following Poland’s example, a completely hopeless situation arose, because a very large number of semi-trucks ended up with Lithuanian plates. Either mixed semi-trucks (‘head’ with Polish plates and ‘tail’ with Lithuanian plates), or the vehicles were completely re-registered in other jurisdictions,” Igor Sekreta noted.
"You know what shocks and surprises me when reading the Lithuanian media of recent days? The headlines are all roughly in the same style: why haven’t the Belarusians confiscated a single road train even after four months? I would like to repeat once again: our task is not to confiscate trucks. We are building relations with our neighbors and our policy for the long term. We are not opportunists; we lived and earned a living for decades and maintained very good relations. And we refuse to sacrifice what is most precious -human contacts, relationships, and business -for the sake of some short-term political expediency, simply because Lithuania now has an uncooperative government that won’t engage in dialogue. Ordinary people understand everything. Today, they are desperate. They said that they would not receive compensation, that their governments would not help them. Therefore, their hope is in the Belarusian government, that it will make a decision that will allow them to return to normal activities and conduct business for the benefit of the peoples: Belarusians, Lithuanians, and Poles,” Igor Sekreta said.
International road carriers applied to the Belarusian president with a request to help resolve the situation with the Lithuanian-registered trucks. Foreign carriers have essentially been abandoned to the whims of fate by their own governments. Due to politically motivated decisions by their governments, including transit restrictions and the closure of border checkpoints, about 1,000 trucks with Lithuanian registration have found themselves blocked and deprived of the opportunity to work normally on their usual routes. The Belarusian president considered their request and, guided by humanitarian grounds, instructed the prime minister to meet with the carriers and listen to their position.
“From the very start, when the situation arose four months ago, numerous attempts were made to resolve this problem through political and diplomatic means. Countless attempts were made to get in touch with Lithuania. Moreover, not only within the framework of Minsk-Vilnius track but also in international organizations. We clearly signaled that we were ready for dialogue and an exchange of views. But for some reason, Vilnius regarded and still regards any contacts at the political level as its own defeat. We shared these conclusions and assumptions with representatives of other Western states. But they do not understand what the defeat consists of. If there is a problem at the border, it needs to be solved, and neighbors are probably best equipped to handle it directly,” Igor Sekreta said.
He noted that third countries had offered their mediation services. "But our answer was this: we are not at war, we have not broken off diplomatic relations. We share a border, which should function normally. This message was conveyed in all our statements, interviews, and comments. A border is an extremely complex political and infrastructural mechanism; it does not operate like a private shop: I want to open it, I want to close it. If we have agreed and concluded an agreement, then the throughput capacity must be ensured 24/7. The proper regime of border protection must be ensured, and most importantly, regardless of the situation in our capitals, normal working contacts must be maintained that facilitate the safe crossing of the border not only for citizens of the two countries, but also for citizens of third countries. Let me remind you, the victims here were not only Poles and Lithuanians. Citizens of many other countries who were transporting goods and counted on the fact that they would always be able to safely travel through the territory of Belarus and Lithuania also suffered,” the deputy minister of foreign affairs noted.
According to him, the Poles suffered twice in this situation. “The first time Poland closed the border was allegedly due to the Zapad 2025 exercise. Carriers quickly began to re-register their vehicles in Lithuania, because the Lithuanians at that time made good money by transporting Polish goods. But when Lithuania closed the border, following Poland’s example, a completely hopeless situation arose, because a very large number of semi-trucks ended up with Lithuanian plates. Either mixed semi-trucks (‘head’ with Polish plates and ‘tail’ with Lithuanian plates), or the vehicles were completely re-registered in other jurisdictions,” Igor Sekreta noted.
"You know what shocks and surprises me when reading the Lithuanian media of recent days? The headlines are all roughly in the same style: why haven’t the Belarusians confiscated a single road train even after four months? I would like to repeat once again: our task is not to confiscate trucks. We are building relations with our neighbors and our policy for the long term. We are not opportunists; we lived and earned a living for decades and maintained very good relations. And we refuse to sacrifice what is most precious -human contacts, relationships, and business -for the sake of some short-term political expediency, simply because Lithuania now has an uncooperative government that won’t engage in dialogue. Ordinary people understand everything. Today, they are desperate. They said that they would not receive compensation, that their governments would not help them. Therefore, their hope is in the Belarusian government, that it will make a decision that will allow them to return to normal activities and conduct business for the benefit of the peoples: Belarusians, Lithuanians, and Poles,” Igor Sekreta said.
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