Number of trucks waiting to cross into Poland doubles over past day - Belarusian Border Committee

MINSK. Feb 22 (Interfax) - The number of trucks waiting to cross into Poland has doubled over the past day, the Belarusian State Border Committee said on Wednesday.

"As of 10 a.m., 500 trucks were waiting in front of the Kukuryki (Belarusian Kozlovichi) checkpoint to cross into EU countries. The neighboring side cleared 51% of the normal number of trucks in the past 24 hours," the committee said.

According to the committee, over 600 trucks are waiting for their turn to cross into the EU on Wednesday morning.

"Cars have been traveling to EU countries with a delay through the Lithuanian checkpoints of Medininkai (Kamenny Log) and Raigardas (Privalka), as well as Terespol (Brest). Border services on those routes cleared 57% of the cars on the average," the committee said.

More than 230 cars are standing in line on the Belarusian-EU border.

The Belarusian State Border Committee said earlier that Lithuania unilaterally stopped cooperating with Belarus on Thursday in the provision of continuous traffic across the border and expansion of the checkpoint capacity.

Poland shut down the Bobrowniki-Berestovitsa checkpoint on the border with Belarus on February 10 for an indefinite period. Two checkpoints remain operational, including Kozlovichi-Kukuryki for trucks and Brest-Terespol for cars. Truck traffic has been limited at the Polish Kukuryki checkpoint since February 21. The restrictions do not apply to vehicles registered in EU countries, members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).