Despite troublesome relations and EU sanctions against Belarus, for its support of Russia in the war against Ukraine, about 1,000 Belarusians crossed into the EU via Lithuania every day. This was before Lithuania closed its remaining two border crossings with Belarus for most traffic at the beginning of November. Since then, many cross border traffic still takes place via the neighbouring countries of Latvia and Estonia. This according to the Lithuanian national broadcasting company LRT.
According to the Lithuanian State Border Guard (VSAT), at the same time about 3000 Lithuanians travelled into Belarus daily through the remaining border crossings until the end of the October. Also for them, a 46-to 50-hour commercial bus ride—depending on traffic—is still an option. The November stats are not available yet, so current data on increase or decrease of bus traffic passengers is too limited.
The Lithuanian government decided to close down the Medininkai and Šalčininkai crossings with Belarus in anger as Belarus did not stop many weather balloons used by smugglers to get goods across the border, and because of recent incident with drones coming from Belarus. However, travellers with a diplomat passport, those allowed to travel between Belarus and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, and for EU citizens returning. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured image: A border crossing between Lithuania and Belarus back in 2026 (Photo: Petr Magera (CC))