Overview
- Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Secreta said Minsk sought consultations at the Dec. 4–5 OSCE ministerial in Vienna, but Vilnius declined.
- President Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus is ready to purchase perishable goods from the stranded consignments and that necessary conditions have been arranged for drivers.
- Security Council Secretary Alexander Volfovich described the situation as calm, noted many drivers were allowed to return home, and said vehicles and cargo are under protection.
- Reported counts of stranded Lithuanian trucks vary from more than 1,200 to over 1,800, with vehicles moved off highways to paid parking lots near the border.
- Lithuania has declared a nationwide emergency over contraband weather balloons disrupting aviation and previously shut the border from Oct. 29 to Nov. 20, after which Minsk kept Lithuanian trucks from departing.