High-end cars continue to be shipped to Russia via Lithuania despite sanctions placed on luxury goods, the LRT Investigation Team reports.
The original report was published in Lithuanian here.
High-end vehicles can be brought to Russia via the neighbouring countries, most of them Belarus. Exports to the country rose more than threefold last year, from 169 to 584 million euros. The exports exceeded 200 million euros in the first quarter of 2023.
Car dealers openly advertise the Lithuania-Belarus route to bring luxury cars into Russia. Some of the channels on social media also sell Lithuanian transit number plates.
Last year, the European Union banned the sale of luxury goods to Russia, including caviar, cigars, precious stones, crystal products and vehicles with a market value of more than 50,000 euros.
According to the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT), the export route via Belarus would constitute a breach of sanctions.
Car dealers share photos and explain on their social media channels how to circumvent sanctions. Once a car has been bought, usually in Denmark and Germany, the vehicle is then transported to Lithuania’s border with Belarus using a European logistics firm.
The cars remain with their original number plates or are replaced by the Lithuanian red transit plates. Eventually, they are placed on Russian lorries or trailers and taken to Russia.
Individuals, not firms, take the vehicles out of Russia, according to data from Lithuanian authorities. Because they are private individuals, their names are not public. There is also no requirement to indicate the end destination of a car when taking out the transit plates, meaning there is no data to track how many cars end up in Russia.
Russian-language social media is full of advice on how to bring cars over the EU border, identifying Lithuania as the main artery.
"You will have to pay for the delivery via a rather complicated route: a truck from Germany to Lithuania, where the Belarusians themselves pick up the car and clear it through customs,” Vladimir, a car dealer, said in a social media post.
“The most efficient way is to use dual nationals. As an EU citizen, he buys a car and drives to Russia on his own, crossing the border as a Russian. At the same border crossing, he fills in a declaration for the car and receives a temporary import document in return," he added.
Lithuania’s port of Klaipėda is named as another transit route. The most common advice posted on social media is to find a Belarusian working in Poland and arrange for him to pick up the car from the port. This usually costs around 500 euros.
"It turns out that there are loopholes and workarounds not only in national laws but also in European sanctions,” said Vladimir. “The same Baltic citizens have not changed their attitude towards Russian customers: they continue to do business the way they used to.”
“After February 24, 2022, there has been no change – only the final price has increased slightly due to logistical complexity. Politics is politics and business is still profit-driven,” he added.
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