International reporting
Belarus opens its border to its neighbors, the Lithuanians take advantage of it
Audio 02:27
Border post near Vilnius.
© RFI/Marielle Vitureau
By: Marielle Vitureau
2 mins
Since April 15, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians can travel to Belarus without a visa.
And since July 1, it's the Poles.
The number of passages has increased considerably in recent weeks, often for very down to earth reasons.
But this is increasingly putting Lithuania, a great critic of Alexander Lukashenko, in the embarrassment.
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Report from our correspondent at one of the border crossings near Vilnius
At 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, ten cars are waiting at the Sumskas post to cross the border.
The green light comes on, the barrier rises, the motors start.
A few cars pass.
Again waiting.
The first Belarusian city is just 16 kilometers away.
Lilija is waiting to fill up her car on the other side: “
It's really cheaper on the other side.
Here, a liter costs 1.86
euros
, over there barely a euro.
I fill up for 135
rubles, about 55
euros and ride for two weeks.
»
Behind her, two men are waiting: “
We have, as we say in Lithuanian, real estate, a house.
We have to go, it's very close to here, in Astrava.
We have family, so here we go.
»
A woman arrives by bicycle from Belarus.
A large shopping bag hanging from the handlebars.
She remains silent.
A taxi is waiting for her, she unloads her cargo of alcohol in the trunk.
She ties her bike to a tree and drives off.
All these Belarusian products are often found in the Rudamina market a few kilometers away.
In Lithuania, many people still have property and family on the other side, a legacy of the Soviet occupation.
Thanks to the abolition of visas, more than 96,000 Lithuanians traveled to Belarus and back in May.
But Belarus is not a neighbor like the others.
So, as Rokas Pukinskas, spokesperson for the border guards, reminds us, the agents do prevention: "
If the person is not wanted, after the check, the border guard can say
:
'dear traveller, you must be aware of the risk, you may be the subject of an attempt to enlist the intelligence services or a provocation”.
»
Maksimas Milta is an associate analyst at the Eastern European Research Center in Vilnius.
By abolishing visas, Alexander Lukashenko seeks to legitimize himself in the eyes of neighboring populations by showing that all is well in the country.
But those who leave should ask themselves questions: “
Do you really want, by spending your money, to support a regime that is still holding more than
1,200
political prisoners hostage
?
Every euro spent in Belarus turns into taxes and these taxes finance the repressive regime.
»
Belarusians continue to flee their country to escape repression and not fight against the Ukrainians.
They are 10,000 to have obtained a residence permit in Lithuania during the first half of the year.
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