MINSK. March 30 (Interfax) - Over 2,000 trucks are waiting to cross into the European Union from Belarus, the Belarusian State Border Committee said on Thursday.
"Over 2,000 trucks are waiting for their turn to enter EU countries. Despite the tense situation on the border, neighboring control services continue to clear around 60% of the normal amount of vehicles," the committee said.
The busiest route passes through the Polish checkpoint of Kukuryki (Kozlovichi), where 60% of the regular number of trucks were cleared on Wednesday, it said.
Delays in clearing heavy trucks are also observed at the Lithuanian checkpoints of Lavoriskes (Kotlovka), Medininkai (Kamenny Log), Salcininkai (Benyakomi) and Raigardas (Privalovka), where 38% of trucks were cleared on average over the past day, it said. Fifty-five percent of trucks were cleared to cross into the EU at the Latvian checkpoint of Paternieki (Grigorovshchina), it said.
The busiest route to the EU for cars runs through the Polish checkpoint of Terespol (Brest). "The neighboring side has cleared only 31% of cars," the Belarusian State Border Committee said.
Since February, Poland has indefinitely suspended the operation of the Bobrowniki-Berestovitsa border crossing. Currently, there are two border crossings operating on the Belarusian-Polish border, one for freight transport (Kozlovichi-Kukuryki), and the other for cars (Brest-Terespol). However, heavy vehicle traffic through Kukuryki has been limited to trucks registered in EU member states or the European Free Trade Association since February 21.
As reported earlier, Lithuania unilaterally stopped engaging with Belarus with respect to facilitating the uninterrupted flow of transport across the border between the two countries.