VILNIUS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Lithuanian government decided on Wednesday to close the Lavoriskes and Raigardas border checkpoints on the border with Belarus from March 1, according to the Lithuanian Interior Ministry.
As a result, only two border checkpoints -- at Medininkai and Salcininkai -- out of the six will remain open on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. The border checkpoints at Sumskas and Tverecius have been closed since August 2023.
The Lithuanian government also decided to ban pedestrians and cyclists from crossing the border to Belarus at Medininkai and Salcininkai.
Also, the government will gradually reduce the number of permits issued to Belarusian and Lithuanian operators of regular bus services to 29 permits at most.
Furthermore, restrictions will be introduced for passengers boarding and disembarking transit trains at the Kena and Kybartai railway stations, with any exceptions to be decided by the State Border Guard Service.
Currently, there is one border checkpoint open on the Polish-Belarusian border, while two are operating on the Latvian-Belarusian border and four on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. ■