Only two border checkpoints – at Medininkai and Šalčininkai – will remain open on Lithuania’s border with Belarus following the closure of the Lavoriškės and Raigardas crossings at midnight on Thursday.
Lithuania last summer closed the first two border checkpoints – at Šumskas and Tverečius – on the border with Belarus.
The authorities say the closures are aimed at dealing with issues of national security, as well as smuggling and violations of international sanctions.
As of March 1, Lithuania is also halting the movement of pedestrians and cyclists via the Medininkai and Šalčininkai border checkpoints and banning the pick-up and drop-off of passengers at the Kena and Kybartai railway border checkpoints, except in exceptional cases to be decided by the State Border Guard Service (VSAT).
“Exceptions will only be granted to persons allowed to travel for humanitarian reasons or with the mediation of other institutions, such as the Foreign Ministry,” Rustamas Liubajevas, head of the VSAT, said on Thursday.
According to him, Lithuanian and other EU citizens wishing to return from Russia will be able to use the Kena and Kybartai railway stations for two more weeks.
“After two weeks, the passage of such individuals will no longer be executed,” he said.
The government has also decided to limit to 50 percent the number of permits issued to Belarusian and Lithuanian carriers operating regular international bus passenger services.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya has said that the measures are building “iron curtains”, warning that only the authoritarian presidents, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, will benefit from the closure of border crossing points and the isolation of Belarusians.
However, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said the closure of two more border checkpoints with Belarus is needed to prevent the circumvention of sanctions against Minsk, according to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
“The iron curtain must be established because sanctions are applied to Belarus, and in order for these sanctions not to be circumvented and to reduce smuggling, which is also a problem, appropriate measures are needed, and they have been taken in time,” he noted.
Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaite said Lithuania will continue to maintain the so-called humanitarian corridor for “people fleeing the regime” and noted that two border checkpoints remain open.
The Lithuanian State Security Department last year warned about attempts by Belarusian intelligence to recruit people travelling across the border.
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