The Lithuanian Customs has not recorded any attempts to enter Lithuania by cars with Russian registration plates for more than a month.
“There are no attempts to enter with Russian plates now. We counted 70 [such attempts] in the first two weeks,” Irmina Frolova-Milašienė, spokesperson for the Customs Department, told BNS.
“There is no problem with cars with Russian-registered plates trying to enter Lithuania. There was a problem in the first week, and then people got the information and stopped trying to enter,” she added.
She also noted that cars with Russian registration plates that had previously entered Lithuania’s territory would have to leave by March 11 next year.
“From that date onwards, measures will be taken – cars registered in Russia could be detained and even confiscated if there are such court decisions. So far, the customs authorities are not taking any such measures,” Frolova-Milašienė said.
Cars with Russian registration plates are not allowed into Lithuanian territory as of September 11, except for those transiting the country to or from the Kaliningrad exclave.
This measure follows the European Commission’s clarification, issued in early September, that cars purchased or registered in Russia cannot be allowed to enter the EU territory.
Sanctions that prohibit the entry of vehicles, as well as personal items, purchased or registered in Russia, are aimed at restricting the entry of goods from Russia into the EU.
Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Finland are also denying entry to cars with Russian registration plates.
Lithuania, together with the other Baltic states and Poland, has also imposed restrictions on the entry of Russian citizens into the country.
Only Russian diplomats, dissidents, employees of transport companies, EU citizens’ family members, and Russian citizens with residence permits or long-stay national visas from Schengen countries have been allowed into Lithuania since September 19, 2022.
Russian citizens can also transit through Lithuania by train to and from the Kaliningrad exclave.
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