As Lithuanian authorities try to determine the scale of Belarus’ detention of Lithuanian cargo trucks, the Customs Department said Tuesday that Minsk is currently holding 185 trucks and trailers – far fewer than the numbers publicly cited by the trucking industry.
“After checking both our data and the video cameras on Lithuanian territory that allow us to monitor the situation on the roads, we can state that of the 488 vehicles reported by Linava, only 185 remain [in Belarus],” Dovilė Kraulaidienė, deputy head of the Customs Department, told reporters at the government headquarters.
She said the figure includes 91 trucks and 49 trailers belonging to Linava members, the National Road Carriers’ Association, as well as 28 trucks and 17 trailers owned by non-members. Several vehicles were found to have Russian license plates, she added.
Earlier, Linava told authorities that roughly 500 Lithuanian trucks were stuck in Belarus. Publicly, however, the association claims that around 4,000 vehicles remain in the country, including about 1,250 trucks.
Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė’s adviser Ignas Algirdas Dobrovolskas urged carriers to provide accurate information, saying it would help Lithuania recover the detained vehicles.
“We are not opposed to our carriers – we want to help them and want their trucks returned to Lithuania,” he said. “But to know the real situation, we first need the real numbers. We need an honest, transparent dialogue rather than attempts to manipulate, as the data suggests.”
Figures from Belarus’ association of international road carriers suggest about 1,880 Lithuanian trucks are being held in the country, with the number of trailers estimated between 2,500 and 3,000, Linava has said.
At Linava’s request, the International Road Transport Union last week asked Belarus’ State Customs Committee and the transport minister to explain the reasons for the detentions and provide vehicle counts with registration data and locations. No reply has been received.
Linava plans to hold a protest in Vilnius on Wednesday to draw attention to what it calls the “consistently dire” situation and to demand concrete action from the government.
Despite the border being open, Belarus is refusing to allow Lithuanian freight vehicles to exit and has directed them to special parking lots, where drivers are charged 120 euros per day for each truck or trailer. Minsk has warned that vehicles left for four months will be confiscated.
Belarus has demanded consultations with Lithuania by the two countries’ foreign ministries. Lithuanian officials reject the demand, claiming Minsk is thus attempting to legitimise President Alexander Lukashenko’s government and get some of the EU sanctions lifted.
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