Lithuania Seeks Corridor for Stranded Trucks as Belarus Agrees to Border Talks

Overview

• Lithuania will again request that Belarus open the Mėdaininkai and Šalčininkai crossings to create an evacuation corridor for returning Lithuanian trucks.
• Belarus’s president tasked the foreign minister to organize talks with Lithuanian officials to normalize the situation and resume full checkpoint operations, according to the Pul Pervogo channel.
• Vilnius has suspended road-vehicle crossings with Belarus for a month through November 30, citing security incidents involving meteorological balloons carrying contraband.
• Belarus’s Foreign Ministry said more than 1,100 Lithuanian trucks on its territory will be moved to specially equipped parking areas and its customs service denies restricting their exit.
• Lithuania has allowed limited categories of people to pass through one checkpoint despite the broader suspension, and officials are escalating the request at a higher border-commissioner level.