The government on Wednesday imposed a temporary ban on road shipments of dual-use goods that can end up in Russia and Belarus and be used in the war against Ukraine.
The cabinet approved a national control list of 57 groups of goods subject to the restrictions, mostly products with microelectronics and semiconductor components.
“Lithuania is restricting the movement of some dual-use or potentially dual-use goods through its territory for at least one year,” Economy Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė, whose ministry proposed the measure, told the cabinet.
“We have information [...] that these goods, travelling from Western Europe to Central Asian countries, could be used in the war in Ukraine,” she said. “We do not want to allow our territory to be used for this purpose and that is why we are introducing such restrictions.”
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After the EU imposed sanctions and banned the export of high-tech, strategic goods to Russia and Belarus, the Russian military industry has started to use parts, such as microchips or semiconductors, of day-to-day electronic devices, according to the ministry.
The goods will be banned from crossing Lithuania’s borders with Russia and Belarus.
The aim is to stop possible circumvention of sanctions by shipping goods through countries bordering Russia that are not subject to international sanctions, as statistics show a disproportionate increase in the transit of some goods via Lithuania to third countries.
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