Number of trucks headed from Belarus to Poland grows six-fold over past day - Belarusian committee

MINSK. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The number of trucks waiting to cross the Belarusian border into Poland has grown six-fold over the day, the Belarusian State Border Committee said on Wednesday.

"The number of trucks awaiting entry into Poland has increased by 500 in the past 24 hours. There are 600 vehicles amassed in front of the only Polish checkpoint opened for trucks, Kukuryki (Kozlovichi), the personnel of which cleared 40% of the normal number of trucks over the day," the committee said.

"The busiest route to the EU for trucks goes through the Lithuanian Salcininkai checkpoint (Benyakoni). Some 47% of vehicles were cleared to enter Lithuania in the past 24 hours," it said.

As many as 680 trucks are waiting for their turn to cross into Lithuania through the Salcininkai checkpoint, alongside 630 at the Medininkai checkpoint (Belarus's Kamenny Log) as of Wednesday morning.

"More than 660 trucks are waiting in front of Latvia's Paternieki checkpoint (Grigorovshchina). The Latvian side has admitted 44% of vehicles," the committee said.

The total number of trucks waiting to enter the EU from Belarus is nearing 2,600.

Only two checkpoints, Medininkai (Kamenny Log) and Salcininkai (Benyakoni), are operational at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border.

Poland has closed all checkpoints at the Belarusian border except for Kukuryki (Kozlovichi) for trucks. The Terespol checkpoint (Brest) admits cars only.

The Paternieki checkpoint (Grigorovshchina) is open at the border with Latvia.