Poland turns back vehicles from Kaliningrad amid protest staged by farmers on border

KALININGRAD. March 20 (Interfax) - Poland has blocked entry for vehicles arriving via the Mamonovo-2 -Grzechotki international road border crossing from Russia's Kaliningrad, the head of the regional Russian customs service Oksana Ivanova told Interfax.

"Polish border guards are denying entry to vehicles, turning them away at their checkpoint at the border crossing. At this point, one bus with passengers on a scheduled journey from Kaliningrad to Sopot has been denied entry, as have seven cars with license plates issued by Poland, Germany and Czechia," Ivanova said.

Meanwhile, the Polish side has yet to provide official comment on these actions.

As reported, the Kaliningrad regional authorities were expecting Poland to enact a temporary closure of the Mamonovo-2-Grzechotki border crossing as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday in reaction to protests staged by Polish farmers. At that moment, there was no information about the actual situation on the border.

However, the municipality of the Polish town of Braniewo, the nearest to the border, said on its website that the farmers will continue their protest until April 20. There will be a complete blockade of traffic via the border crossing in the first 12 hours before it resumes with a limitation to one vehicle per hour, it says.

Currently, only two crossing points are operational on the Russian-Polish border in the Kaliningrad region, Mamonovo-2-Grzechotki and Bagrationovsk-Bezledy. There have been no reports about closing the latter.