MINSK, 22 February (BelTA) – Huge queues at the border are the fault of the Lithuanian customs services, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said in an interview with the Lithuanian newspaper Vakaro Zinios, BelTA has learned.
“The situation at the border is complicated. There are thousands of trucks on Belarus' side waiting to enter Lithuania. Truckers spend up to seven days in line. The situation has been mainly created by the Lithuanian customs services that have been slowly clearing the vehicles. We are ready to speed up the clearance process, but are restrained by the speed of clearance in Lithuania. We have nowhere to release trucks. After being cleared here, the vehicle does not leave the country because its place on the Lithuanian side is occupied. Previously, there was stable communication between the border and customs services of our countries, and some things could have been solved much faster. Now these contacts have been reduced to the minimum. Again, this was not our initiative,” said Roman Golovchenko.
According to him, despite all the warlike rhetoric, Belarus is ready to cooperate at any level. “If politicians do not want to cooperate, that is their business. Why can't we work at the level of economic, border and customs services? After all, these are issues of people's concern. We, officials, should solve the problems of businesses and individuals. Lithuania's position is incomprehensible here,” the prime minister said.
