Lithuania has begun confiscating cars with Russian license plates

Drivers of cars with Russian registration numbers in Lithuania, starting from March 11, must either re-register them with Lithuanian ones or leave the country. Otherwise, car owners face a fine or confiscation based on Article 515 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Lithuanian customs warned about this earlier .

As the Lithuanian customs explained, such measures are due to the implementation of EU sanctions against RUSSIA. According to the explanations of the European Commission, entry into the EU countries in passenger cars with Russian license plates is equivalent to prohibited import.

An exception will be the transit of a car to and from the Kaliningrad region - then a car with Russian license plates will be allowed to stay in Lithuania for no more than 24 hours and with the mandatory presence of its owner. If the owner is not present, the car will not be allowed into the country.

According to the Lithuanian Customs Department, there may still be about 50 cars with Russian license plates in the country. We are talking about cars that were counted in traffic jams.

From February 14, it was allowed to confiscate such cars in Latvia. Estonia, Finland , Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, Bulgaria and Germany also have a ban on the entry of cars with Russian license plates.

According to Russian authorities, such restrictions discredit the European Union. Thus, the Russian Embassy in Latvia called the authorities’ decision to confiscate cars with Russian license plates a racket. The diplomats noted that Article 17 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights states that “no one shall be deprived of property” without good cause, and if this happens, the victim must receive “payment of fair compensation” for the lost property.