Around 2,500 football fans cross Lithuanian border en route to Kaliningrad

Renatas Požėla, commander of border guards currently working under a tightened regime, said the majority of fans were Russian citizens.

Additional trains for fans were launched on Friday night ahead of a match between Serbia and Switzerland.

“There were around 500 people in each train and there were five trains this night,” Požėla told BNS Lithuania. “60-70 percent of them were Russian citizens, 15 percent were Serbs and there were also Belarusian, Moroccans and Americans.”

Football fans in mainland Russian travel to Kaliningrad by train as trips are free for those having Fan IDs.

Related Post

Lithuanian border guards also on Friday blocked two citizens of Algeria from entering the country as one of them had no valid Schengen visa and the other one had fake documents. All in all, Lithuanian border guards have stopped 14 foreigners with Fan IDs from entering Lithuania ahead of and during the World Cup.

Officers are concerned that third-country citizens are using the opportunity of free travel in Russia to eventually reach EU countries.

“Some fans are taking advantage of the championship, and tension is already rising on the Polish-Belarusian and Polish-Russian borders. They already see it as a threat, (…) so we should not feel calm as well,” Požėla said.

Share

Recent Posts

  • Culture

Lens on Movement: Ukrainian and Lithuanian Photos at Luxembourg’s European Mobility Week

Celebrating the European Mobility Week (16-22 September), the City of Bissen in Luxembourg will present…

3 days ago
  • Economy

Lithuanians will have to open their wallets even wider: goods and services will become more expensive

According to TV3.lt, Swedbank economists raise their GDP growth forecast for Lithuania and believe the…

1 week ago
  • Economy

Janulevičius. Lithuania’s economy looks better than Estonia’s or Latvia’s, but we shouldn’t be happy about it

From Q1 2022 onwards, Estonia has been in a prolonged recession. Yes, we also had…

2 weeks ago
  • Tribune

EMBank’s earnings for the first half of 2024 have increased by over 50%

European Merchant Bank (EMBank), a provider of financial solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, has…

2 weeks ago
  • Latest

Resorting to anger when it should be apologising: experts on Gabrielius Landsbergis

As the debate on the Landsbergis' assets continues in the public sphere, political analysts are…

3 weeks ago
  • Economy

Preliminary housing purchase contract – what not to be afraid of and what to check before signing

A preliminary contract is usually signed when buying a new dwelling directly from the developer…

1 month ago