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PM: Belarus will not confiscate Lithuanian trucks

MINSK, 17 March (BelTA) - Belarus will not confiscate trucks with Lithuanian registration, Belarusian Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin said during a meeting with Lithuanian and Polish carriers, BelTA has learned.

International road carriers applied to the Belarusian president with a request to help resolve the situation with the Lithuanian-registered trucks. The Belarusian president considered their request and, guided by humanitarian grounds, instructed the prime minister to meet with the carriers and listen to their position.

“Despite the frankly unfriendly policy of the neighboring states, we are taking a constructive position and intend to take into account the interests of all stakeholders. Despite the possibility of confiscating vehicles, the Belarusian side certainly has no intention or desire to do so. Our desire is to reach a constructive agreement and find a way out of the current situation. During the recent visit of representatives of the Lithuanian association, they had the opportunity to see that all vehicles are in secured parking lots and are all in good working order. The owner of these parking lots is a commercial organization. Our position is also clear: the costs incurred by our company must be compensated," Aleksandr Turchin said.

Foreign carriers have essentially been abandoned to the whims of fate by their own governments. Due to politically motivated decisions by their governments, including transit restrictions and the closure of border checkpoints, about 1,000 trucks with Lithuanian registration have found themselves blocked and deprived of the opportunity to work normally on their usual routes.
“Throughout these four months, we have offered our colleagues from the Republic of Lithuania to meet and hold negotiations with the aim of developing measures to resolve this and other issues in bilateral relations. Unfortunately, the Lithuanian government probably has more important matters to attend to than dealing with the problems of its own business,” Aleksandr Turchin said.

The Belarusian side is ready to examine the current situation in order to find possible ways to resolve it. Today, the prime minister met with Lithuanian and Polish carriers to listen to their position.

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