Over the past two weeks, 679 trucks with Lithuanian license plates have returned from Belarus to Lithuania after being detained there for several months,
Delfi.lt reports
.
Павялічыць
Illustrative photo. Photo: Lookby.media
According to the Lithuanian Border Guard Service, as of 0:00 on April 7, 362 vehicles passed through the Medininkai checkpoint, and another 317 through Šalčininkai. On April 6 alone, 24 trucks returned.
It is interesting that the State Border Committee of Belarus cited almost the same figure of 700 trucks with Lithuanian registration that were able to leave Belarus as early as March 31, i.e., a week ago. However, it referred to vehicles that left not only through the Belarusian-Lithuanian border, but also through the Belarusian-Polish border.
The first vehicles began returning to Lithuania on the morning of March 24 after Alexander Lukashenka allowed their departure.
Prior to that, on March 17, representatives of the Belarusian government met with carriers from Lithuania and Poland whose trucks could not leave the country. In total, according to Belarusian state media, more than 1,900 trucks were detained.
These vehicles had been in Belarus since November 2025. This was a response to Lithuania’s decision in October to temporarily close the Medininkai and Šalčininkai checkpoints. The reason was contraband balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from Belarus and to disrupt the operation of Vilnius Airport.
Later, Lithuania reopened the checkpoints, hoping to get the transport back, but Belarus long refused to release it.
The Lithuanian Carriers’ Association stated that losses from this situation amounted to up to 22 million euros. The European Commission also noted that the detention of the transport was unjustified.