Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said Wednesday that the government is not considering compensating Lithuanian carriers whose trucks remain detained in Belarus, insisting that Minsk is responsible for the losses.
“Belarus is the one that detained the carriers’ vehicles. It is only logical to seek compensation from Belarus,” Ruginienė told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
She added that Lithuania has made clear from “day one” that carriers were allowed to return with their trucks when the border was closed. “The border was not shut for them,” she said.
Her comments came as the National Road Carriers Association, Linava, held a protest in central Vilnius over what it says are hundreds of Lithuanian trucks stuck in Belarus. The group launched a petition demanding that authorities present within 72 hours a concrete plan for recovering the detained vehicles and compensating carriers for documented losses.
Ruginienė reiterated that the government is not weighing compensation measures or restrictions on truck traffic to Belarus.
She also noted that despite the detentions, carriers continue to travel to and from Belarus quite intensively, saying truck crossings jumped sharply after the border reopened.
Linava president Erlandas Mikėnas said earlier Wednesday that carriers will stop driving to Belarus only if the government issues a formal order.
As institutions and carriers dispute how many vehicles remain stranded, Ruginienė acknowledged that the figures may not be entirely accurate. She added that some trucks Linava claims are still stuck have in fact been released and are again operating on cross-border routes.
“According to our information, many of the vehicles they counted as confiscated in Belarus are driving in Lithuania and back to Belarus,” she said.
Customs officials say 185 Lithuanian trucks and trailers remain stuck in Belarus. Linava, however, publicly claims that about 4,000 vehicles, including 1,250 trucks, are still in the country.
“I would like more accurate statistics, because even for us it took time to piece together the numbers,” the prime minister said. “We have different figures – carriers say one thing, but they are unable to count how many vehicles are actually in Belarus.”
Mikėnas argued earlier that customs data do not capture trucks entering Belarus through Latvia or Poland.
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