On July 5, the driver of the Kaliningrad transport company, Alexei Pyrochkin, was heading from Moscow to Kaliningrad with a postal load.
He had to transit through Latvia.
When the Russian passed through passport control at the Ubylinka-Grebnevo customs checkpoint on the Russian-Latvian border, he was detained by a customs officer.
“I have already passed passport control on the Russian side, customs with the Latvians, passed through passport control at the customs point on the Latvian side.
As usual, we checked documents, insurance, technical inspections, checked the numbers of cars and trailers, body numbers of cars.
Everything was fine, there were no complaints, all the seals had already been put on me, ”the trucker tells RT.
Aleksey claims that the man who suddenly detained him was not dressed in the uniform of a customs officer.
The only identification mark that the Russian noticed was an incomprehensible inscription on the man's vest in Latvian.
Nevertheless, Pyrochkin did not resist and followed the employee.
He gave the driver papers to sign, in which he ordered to indicate personal data and sign under the already prepared text.
“There it was necessary to write the full name, citizenship, place of work, marital status - everything, up to the place of residence of the parents,” recalls the interlocutor of RT.
— Naturally, I wanted to get acquainted with the content of the text.
The meaning of the document was as follows: the signatory is against the special operation, against the government and the president of Russia, Belarus and does not support the policy of these states.
I read it, said that I did not agree with what was written and would not sign anything.”
After Alexei refused to fill out the paperwork, the customs officer, who, according to the trucker, spoke pure Russian without an accent, began asking him provocative questions.
“I explained that I myself am far from politics, but I am a citizen of Russia, I voted for Putin, and the president clearly knows better what to do.
Then, for some reason, they began to ask me about my friends - I answered that they all also support their president, ”says Pyrochkin.
Day at the border
After a strange conversation with the customs officer, the Russian was finally released back into the car - during this time a large queue had gathered at the border.
The customs officers told Alexei to wait until his passport was returned to him.
This happened only 40 minutes later, and the woman who brought the documents to the Russian immediately told him “not to ask her any questions - she won’t tell him anything anyway.”
© Photo from personal archive
“They told me that my visa had been cancelled, entry to Latvia was closed to me and I was being turned back to Russia,” the man continues.
- They gave the documents, the refusal to enter - and there are four sheets in Latvian.
I said that I didn’t understand what was written, asked why the visa was canceled.”
“According to the customs officer, I was banned from entering, because I can “negatively affect Latvia and the people of Latvia”, I will “campaign for Russia”.
They completely crossed out the entire visa to me in my passport, now I couldn’t go to Kaliningrad through Lithuania, ”the Russian is indignant.
Alexei Pyrochkin had to spend a day at the border - the car and cargo that the trucker was supposed to deliver to Kaliningrad had already passed customs, the man could not pick them up.
Pyrochkin had to wait for his colleague, who was on the flight, and transfer his cargo to him.
A fellow driver also helped Alexei to get to the Russian capital.
Pyrochkin also had to hitchhike to get to his hometown, he was helped by a friend who delivered cargo from Moscow to Naberezhnye Chelny.
All this time, his wife Valeria worried about Alexei - after learning that her husband was not allowed to cross the border, the woman wrote appeals to the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the President of Russia.
“On the same day, as my husband was deployed at the border, I got through to the Ministry of Transport, wrote an electronic appeal.
The same letter was sent to the President.
I immediately received an answer from the presidential administration that my appeal was forwarded to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since that moment, I have not received any answers yet, ”Valeria Pyrochkina told RT.
The woman was indignant at the arbitrariness of the Latvian customs officers.
“My husband is a citizen of the Russian Federation, he was born and lives here, his family is here!
Of course, he supports the president.
And in what way could he “negatively influence” the inhabitants of Latvia in general?”
- the trucker's wife was indignant.