The governmental commission also recommends barring pedestrians and cyclists from crossing other border checkpoints.
The move comes after the commission assessed institutions’ proposals aimed at reducing the risks associated with increased transit flows through Lithuania and Belarus, activities of the Belarussian intelligence and security services and the control of the movement of sanctioned and smuggled goods. The increased workload on the authorities was also a factor, it said.
“The flow of Belarusian citizens at all road checkpoints along the border with Belarus has recently increased by around 50%. The increasing numbers of vehicles, goods and persons require an optimisation of the process to manage these flows, a concentration of technical measures and an even more detailed screening of persons, vehicles and goods,” said Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre.
The commission also advised the Cabinet to consider restrictions for passengers boarding and disembarking transit trains at the Kena railway station.
The Foreign Ministry should contact Belarusian opposition figures living in Lithuania and advise them not to travel to Belarus, the body said.
In addition, the National Security Commission proposed to reduce the number of permits issued to Belarusian and Lithuanian carriers operating regular bus services. The aim is to halve the number, Vitkauskas told a press conference later.
“It will not happen from 1 March as it will be a gradual process. (&) In two months, we could reduce [the number of permits] by about a third,” Vitkauskas explained.
He also said that the closure date was chosen due to a large drop in the number of lorries crossing the border.
“It is not a coincidence that this time has been picked as the current traffic is very low. We have 181 lorries queuing today. Just before the Christmas holidays there were over two thousand trucks, so it has fallen by 10 times,” he said.
Data of the National Crisis Management Centre show that road border checkpoints screened individuals crossing the Belarus-Lithuania border almost 3.9 million times in 2023, or 25.5% more than in 2022. Sixty-six percent of the persons checked were Belarusian citizens.
Lithuania’s two border checkpoints at Šumskas and Tverečius remain temporarily closed since mid-August last year.
There is currently one border checkpoint open on the Polish border with Belarus, two on the Latvian border and four on the Lithuanian border.
Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė had hinted at the end of summer 2023 there were talks about closing the Lavoriškės and Raigardas, but these were not formal at the time.
