Europe's largest road crossing blocked for Russian trucks

Europe's largest international automobile checkpoint Kukuryki-Kozlovichi (Poland-Belarus) was blocked for the passage of trucks with Russian and Belarusian numbers. Managers of transport and logistics companies told RBC about this.

On the afternoon of Monday, March 14, the waiting time to cross the border through Kukuryki reached 24 hours, according to the National Tax Administration of Poland. At the same time, the State Border Committee of Belarus reported that 630 trucks were waiting in line to pass through Kozlovichi.

The total length of the queue from Poland and Belarus was about 30 km, Yaroslav Belousov, head of the international transportation direction of FM Logistic Vostok, told RBC. The European route E30 passes through the Kukuryki-Kozlovichi checkpoint. It starts in the Irish city of Cork, passes through the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belarus and ends in Russian Omsk.

Since Friday, March 11, a rally has been held at the crossing, says Elena Podolskaya, head of the road transportation department of the logistics company Nawinia. According to her, the protesters with the flags of Ukraine began to block any traffic with Russian and Belarusian license plates. "The demands were categorical - to prohibit the further movement of goods to Russia," Podolskaya said.

The protesters did not care that toilets were in one truck and champagne in the other, a trucker who was in a traffic jam told RBC. According to him, the protesters are sure that “toilets are for the military,” and champagne is for “celebrating the victory [over Ukraine].” In fact, the trucks contain goods that are not subject to Western sanctions , Belousov assures. This affected everyone who belongs to Belarus or Russia, regardless of the type of cargo, Podolskaya agrees.