🇱🇹 Lithuania–Belarus Border Crisis Deepens
The situation on the Lithuanian–Belarusian border remains strained, even after Poland reopened two crossing points on 17 November and processed more than 1,300 vehicles within the first hours. In Lithuania, traffic through Medininkai remains heavily restricted, while the Šalčininkai crossing is fully closed until at least 30 November.
Why is Lithuania not reopening?
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office, the decision is directly linked to a series of incidents in which dozens of meteorological balloons carrying contraband cigarettes drifted into the airspace near Vilnius Airport. Several times the airport was forced to halt operations — which the authorities describe as an unacceptable aviation-safety risk.
How many trucks are stuck?
Transport associations report around 1,500 Lithuanian trucks stranded in Belarus, some placed on paid “special parking lots” (up to €120/day), others stuck on roads and informal parking areas. Including transit flows to/from the EU, Central Asia and Russia, the total number of affected vehicles reaches 4,000–5,000.
Losses: tens of millions of euros
There is no official government estimate yet, but industry groups point to the following:
daily cost per truck (idle time + parking): €250–400,
delays now exceeding two weeks,
part of the cargo is perishable (food, meat, pharmaceuticals).
Even under conservative scenarios, the Lithuanian logistics sector has already suffered losses in the tens of millions of euros — and the figure grows every day.
Positions of the sides
Lithuania says it may consider partial reopening once balloon flights stop.
Belarus refuses to release the trucks until Lithuania reopens the crossings and relocates them to paid storage sites.
LINAVA (the transport association) urges the government to restore at least minimal capacity and warns of protests and existential risks for the industry.
Regional context
With Poland now reopening border traffic and Latvia allowing certain transit flows, Lithuania has effectively become the only country in the region where freight movement through Belarus remains fully blocked. This creates pressure on businesses and risks a long-term shift of Asia–EU transit routes toward Poland and Latvia.
Image: photos/photo_47@17-11-2025_17-02-53.jpg