In Lithuania, customs officers detained the first car with Russian license plates, the Delfi agency reports.
The Audi Q7 car was detained on the evening of March 11 in the village of Medininkai. The driver was a Moldovan citizen who was traveling to Belarus. When checking the documents, it turned out that the owner of the car was a Russian citizen. The driver told customs officers that he was not aware of the restrictions imposed by the EU.
As Delfi writes, customs officers drew up an administrative protocol against the driver from Moldova and informed him that he would have to confiscate the car, the cost of which is estimated at 41,690 euros.
In September 2023, the European Commission published clarifications to the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, according to which entry into the EU territory on cars purchased or registered in Russia can be equated to their import. After this, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Bulgaria banned cars with Russian license plates from entering their territory.
According to Lithuanian rules, cars with Russian license plates that entered the country before the ban came into force entry on September 11, within six months it was necessary to take it out “from Lithuania and from the entire territory of the European Union” or re-register.
From March 11, 2024, the exception applies only to car owners who are traveling in transit from the Kaliningrad region and back and have documents confirming this. They can stay in Lithuania for up to 24 hours.