На русском языке:
На латвийской границе у беларусов начали забирать сигареты, алкоголь и кастрюли
На беларускай мове:
На латвійскай мяжы ў беларусаў пачалі забіраць цыгарэты, алкаголь і нават рондалі
Today at around 3 a.m., messages began to appear in the chat rooms about passing the border, saying that when passing the Belarus-Latvia border, they began to take away people’s cigarettes and pour out alcohol. This was noticed by Euroradio.
People write that customs officers are referring to the new EU sanctions announced by the EU Council last Saturday. According to people who entered Latvia tonight and this morning, they were informed about the ban on importing not only cigarettes and alcohol, but also cosmetics, textiles, plastic and metal products.
They say that at the border they started to make people pour out alcohol and throw away cigarettes at night. As for cosmetics, customs officers are interested in new cosmetics (including those bought in Duty Free), while no one has taken away any open cosmetics yet. The situation with plastic and metal products, as well as with clothing is not clear yet. Some people wrote that they were asked to throw away pots and plastic lids.
People assume that Latvian customs officers are referring to point No.19 in the document (2024/1865) on the expansion of a number of sanctions against Russia on the regime in Belarus, which says:
«Decision (CFSP) 2024/1864 permits Member States to allow the entry into the Union of personal effects which do not pose significant circumvention concerns, such as personal hygiene items, or clothing worn by travellers or contained in their luggage, and which are clearly intended for their or their family members’ strict personal use. It also provides for exceptions allowing cars to enter the Union under specific circumstances. The situation of cars from Belarus which are already in the territory of the Union may be regularised by Member States.»
