Transport ministers of Poland and Baltic states call on EU to ban trucking from Russia and Belarus

The transport ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have called for a ban on road transport to and from Russia and Belarus and to restrict the entry of ships from these countries into EU ports.

This is stated in their joint letter to EU Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean and EU transport ministers, EP reports.

"As Russia continues its brutal war against Ukraine and the European Council convenes to consider further European responses from Russia and Belarus, we call for additional measures in the field of road and sea transport. The ban on transporting cargo by Russian and Belarusian vehicles and the entry of ships of the two countries into ports will have the greatest effect if adopted at the EU level. The actions of Putin's aggressor must receive a strong, cohesive, and decisive response from the EU here and now," said Lithuanian Transport Minister Marius Skuodis.

The letter also proposes to revoke the permits issued by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport of Russia and Belarus for the international transporting of goods and to suspend the Convention on the International Carriage of Goods for Operations involving Russia and Belarus.

Ministers call on the EU to take all necessary measures to ban Russian and Belarusian-flagged vessels from entering EU ports.

The aim is to create conditions that prevent easy circumvention of existing bans, so it is proposed to combine measures for road and sea transport.

To recap, activists are blocking trucks heading to Belarus and Russia at the Kukuryki checkpoint on the Polish-Belarusian border.

Activists are demanding that the Polish government and the EU authorities completely ban the supply of goods to the aggressor state.