Baltic States and Poland urges EU to ban Russian and Belarusian cargo transportation by road and sea

The Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis, together with the Ministers of Poland, Latvia and Estonia, addressed the European Commission (EC) Transport Commissioner Adina Valean and EU Transport Ministers with a joint letter calling for a ban on the carriage of goods by road to/from Russia and Belarus and restricted entry of these countries’ vessels to the EU ports, the press office of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania wrote in a press release.

Ministers took this step in response to the Russian regime’s ongoing war in Ukraine, which is still powered by dual-use goods transported by thousands of Russian and Belarusian trucks and ships every day.

“With Russia continuing its brutal war against Ukraine, and the European Council convening a meeting to consider a further European response to Russia and Belarus, we are calling for additional measures in the areas of road and sea transport. The ban on the carriage of goods by Russian and Belarusian trucks and the entry of the vessels of the two countries into ports will have the greatest effect if adopted at the EU level. The actions of the aggressor Putin must receive a strong, united and determined EU response here and now,” Minister of Transport and Communications M. Skuodis says.

The letter of the Lithuanian, Polish, Latvian and Estonian Transport Ministers to the EC Commissioner also proposes to revoke the authorizations granted by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) to Russia and Belarus for international carriage of goods and to terminate the Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets for operations involving Russia and Belarus.

Ministers call on the EU to take all necessary measures to ban the entry of ships with the Russian and Belarusian flags into EU ports. The aim is to create conditions that prevent the existing prohibitions from being easily circumvented, and it is therefore proposed to combine measures for road and sea transport.

The letter of the Ministers points out that only united measures can produce tangible results when Russia’s actions will receive a strong, united and determined EU response through the adoption of further targeted sanctions.

Recently Transport Ministers from 9 EU countries addressed A. Valean with a joint letter proposing a temporary exemption from the provisions of the Mobility Package, which obliges the vehicle to return every eight weeks to its country of establishment and restricts cabotage domestic transport within the EU.