Robert Mendick,
CHIEF REPORTER
14 March 2022 • 6:34pm
Protesters have blockaded a border crossing between Poland and Belarus over claims Russia is using the route to circumvent EU sanctions.
Trucks trying to cross into Belarus are stuck in 10-mile-long queues after demonstrators targeted crossings.
European Union sanctions against Russia and Belarus do not include deliveries of food and medicines, although critics believe the trucks are carrying other cargo as well.
A handful of Ukrainian and Polish civilians have successfully blockaded the routes. Some have unscrewed Russian number plates off lorries that have been stopped, preventing them crossing the border.
Wrapped in Ukrainian flags, protesters in Koroszczyn, a Polish town on the border with Belarus, prevented trucks from leaving the country. The protest was repeated at other border crossings shared between Poland and Belarus, which has facilitated the invasion of Ukraine.
TVN24, a Polish television channel, claimed the lorries were empty when they arrived in Poland from Belarus and then were driven on to Germany, where they were filled with supplies including food and medications but possibly also items under sanction.
Drivers interviewed by Gazeta Wyborcza, a a Polish newspaper, said the final destination for many of them was Russia.
Miroslaw Zahorski, a Ukrainian refugee, had started the protest which had snowballed by the weekend, causing huge tailbacks. Mr Zahorski and other protesters had blockaded the routes and removed lorry number plates. They have also given out leaflets to Russian and Belarusian truckers, containing accounts of atrocities committed during the war.
EU blamed for loophole
The Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce called on the EU to shut down the trading route and close off the loophole that allows goods into Russia from the bloc.
But a Polish government spokesman, quoted in the New York Times, said it was the fault of the EU that sanctions were not tighter. The spokesman said: “Since all of the EU states do not agree on this point, we are looking for legal loopholes to limit such activity locally. For this to be effective, and not just a gesture, these actions need to be coordinated.”
Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s Prime Minister, was expected to raise the issue in meetings with Ukraine while Poland insists it is increasing checks on vehicles to make sure sanctions are not being flouted.
Reports suggest that more than a 1,000 lorries were trapped at one crossing, causing ten-mile tailbacks. One truck driver told The Australian newspaper that he only wanted to go home to his family in Russia. He said he was carrying foodstuffs.
Victoria, a graphic designer from Kyiv now living in Warsaw, told The Australian: “The German people may know about this but they do not really think how crucial the position of Russians in Belarus is and they do not understand how much harm these trucks can pose by supplying Russian soldiers with food and other items.”
People power turns back Russian trucks ‘trying to evade sanctions’ at Belarus border
