Longer truck lines expected in Lithuania after Poland closes its border with Belarus

VILNIUS - Traffic flows at the Lithuanian border with Belarus are expected to increase following Poland’s move to completely close its border with Belarus ahead of the active phase of the Russia-Belarus Zapad 2025 military exercise kicking off on Friday, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (SBGS) has warned.

"The situation at those (border crossing) points has been fairly stable, but it will obviously change due to Poland's decision. We cannot say today to what extent, but there will definitely be greater traffic," Giedrius Misutis, spokesman for the SBGS, told BNS.

Meanwhile, the president of Linava, the Lithuanian National Road Carriers' Association, says that the restrictions in Poland will negatively affect the remaining small share of companies that still transport goods to Belarus and the carriers that only transport goods across the border.

"Those who transport goods, a small percentage, are finding it very difficult. It is also difficult for those who hand over cargo to the next carriers - the queues from there are still growing for them. But it should not have a major impact on Lithuanian carriers," Erlandas Mikenas told BNS.

SBGS: TRAFFIC WILL INCREASE, ALTHOUGH QUEUES TO BELARUS ARE CURRENTLY SHORT

Poland closed its border with Belarus temporarily on Friday at the start of the Zapad drills. In view of the Russia-Belarus joint military exercises, Warsaw also moved to deploy around 40,000 troops to both the Belarusian and Russian borders.

According to Misutis, it is difficult to say exactly how much traffic will increase at the Salcininkai and Medininkai border crossings, but border guards have not recorded any significant vehicle lines on the Lithuanian side recently.

"Passenger cars practically did not have to wait at all, or the queues were about an hour or two. Truck drivers had to wait three to six hours at both border crossings, and perhaps ten hours on public holidays," Misutis said.

According to the SBGS spokesman, the number of people traveling to Belarus has decreased due to sanctions: "For instance, it is not possible to travel with Belarusian license plates - this was felt immediately over a period of about two years, with the number of Belarusians crossing the border decreasing by about half. A small number of Lithuanian citizens travel to Belarus, but their number has decreased by about three times."

According to him, trucks waited in special waiting areas rather than in a live queue, so they did not clog the roads.

Misutis added that there are not many opportunities to speed up the inspection process - strict legal requirements and sanctions oblige officers to check every vehicle and driver.

"There is no way to prepare specifically. You cannot widen the checkpoint or make it easier to pass through, because this is an external border, the border with Belarus, where these strict checks are, have been, and will likely continue to be in the near future. Every citizen is assessed, especially those arriving, according to risk factors," Misutis told BNS.

LINAVA: CARGO WILL TRAVEL MORE SLOWLY

For his part, Mikenas predicts unbalanced transport flows, especially for companies that transport Western goods to Belarus or further east.

The president of Linava told BNS that Lithuanian carriers currently transport almost no goods to Belarus; they more often transport cargo across the border, where it is transferred to a truck belonging to a carrier from another country.

"It is difficult to say how this will affect the situation… Most likely, everyone will just stand and wait for some kind of decision," Mikenas told BNS.

"The transport system itself will be affected, that's for sure. Cargo will travel more slowly with carriers from other countries after being transferred, and transport flows from Western Europe to the East will become unbalanced," he added.

Lithuania closed the Lavoriskes, Raigardas, Sumskas, and Tverecius border crossing points on the Belarusian border in 2023-2024, and now only the Medininkai and Salcininkai crossing points remain open on this border.