Lithuania Proposes To Close Two More Checkpoints On Its Belarus Border

Along with a number of other restrictions.

In Lithuania, they propose to close two more border checkpoints on the border with Belarus: Lavoriškės (adjacent — Katlouka) and Raigardas (Pryvalka). This proposal was put forward by the Lithuanian National Security Commission, LRT reports.

The commission also proposed limiting the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers at the Kena railway checkpoint, as well as reducing the number of permits for Belarusian and Lithuanian drivers for regular bus transportation.

“Recently, the flow of Belarusian citizens has increased by about 50%. As the flow of transport, goods and people increases, it is necessary to optimize the process of managing these flows, concentrate technical means and even more detailed inspection of people, vehicles and goods. In addition, in the context of the activities of the Belarusian special services and intelligence services against Lithuania, since the regimes are trying to circumvent sanctions in various ways, and the threat of road accidents at the border increases, such dynamics of events create additional risks. For these reasons, we are submitting proposals to the government to improve the efficiency of control on the border with Belarus,” says the report of the head of the National Crisis Management Center (NCMC), Vilmantas Vitkauskas.

The border zone has become a source of tension since 2021, when Belarus transported migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Poland and the Baltic countries. EU authorities said this was done with the aim of creating chaos and destabilizing the region. The meeting participants called on Minsk to remove all illegal migrants from the border areas and return them to the countries from which they came.

In mid-August, Lithuania decided to close two of the six checkpoints on the border with Belarus, and Latvia announced the mobilization of additional border guards “in connection with the rapidly growing hybrid threat on the Latvian-Belarusian state border.” “We are ready to act uniformly to come to the rescue, to make decisions — including closing the border,” said Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė.