Russia may ban entry to Europe. Belarus has already introduced such a measure – and little has changed
At the moment, the documents are under interdepartmental coordination. The introduction of restrictions is currently being discussed as a test regime, it will last from autumn until the end of the year.
Russian authorities prohibit heavy trucks from entering the country from the application. The decision comes into force on October 1, “Interfax” sources familiar with the documents. According to them, the relevant departments are not against sending such checks. Documents are already being coordinated. The Ministry of Transport will present them before August 1, and the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Trade are already preparing lists of goods that require deficits.
It is forbidden to act in response to the fifth package, but you should not play it safe in this regard. General Director of the company “Optimal Logistics” George Vlastopulo:
“Actually, it’s not as difficult as it’s supposed to be. The fact is that after the introduction of the fifth sanctions package, which banned the entry of road carriers from Russia and Belarus to the sudden movement, Belarus immediately responded in a mirror manner and banned European carriers from driving more than 40 kilometers inland. And it turns out at 17, if I’m not mistaken, in the customs and logistics terminals re-hooking and reloading. That is, a European carrier delivers to Belarus, then reattaches the tractor – and the Belarusian tractor is already on its way to its destination. This procedure currently takes from two to four hours, the Belarusian authorities will organize everything quickly enough. In fact, nothing really fell out for the transit of goods – some 100-200 euros were added for these procedures. Our authorities did not respond in a mirror manner, but more than once the Association of International Road Carriers has loaded the decision on retaliatory measures on the fifth sanctions package. Even if road carriers are due to a ban on entry into the territory of Russia, entry will be carried out according to the same scheme. There is nothing extraordinary. One way or another, this is all an increase in the cost and complexity of the transportation scheme. But I think this card will be played last. On the part of the authorities, we see a rather loyal attitude towards the fifth sanctions package: no responses are accepted.
Will Europe be critical of this decision by Russia?
– If we ban entry to Europe for European road carriers, this will primarily affect the Baltic road transport companies. For them, of course, this is critical, because up to 90% of Latvian cargo is transit, and almost 50% of Lithuanian export GDP consists of flexible services.
Ban on the entry and transit of freight transport from Russia and Belarus to the EU affects from April. There are exceptions: the delivery of food, fruits and agricultural products, including wheat, as well as the delivery of energy, non-ferrous metals and fertilizers.