Government proposes termination of 2010 border-traffic agreement with Belarus

Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed terminating a 2010 inter-governmental agreement with Belarus that would have allowed certain border residents to cross the state frontier without visas.

The ministry submitted a draft government resolution asking the cabinet to request the president to submit the agreement to parliament for termination. If the foreign minister, Kęstutis Budrys, is unavailable, the request will be presented by the deputy foreign minister, Audra Plepytė.

The 2010 agreement, signed in Minsk by then Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, envisaged that specific groups of border residents could enter the other country’s 50-kilometre border zone for up to 90 days every six months using special local-traffic permits. Permits valid for up to five years were to be issued to permanent residents of the border areas who planned visits for family, economic, trade, cultural or other important reasons, but would not grant the right to work.

The agreement was ratified by the Lithuanian parliament in 2011 but never entered into force because Belarus did not notify Vilnius of the completion of its internal procedures. The foreign ministry now states that, after more than 15 years and given the lack of effect, the accord is no longer relevant to either side and should be denounced in line with Lithuania’s foreign-policy and national-security priorities.

Current national sanctions against Belarusian citizens include tightened rules on permanent and temporary residence permits, visa issuance and electronic-resident status, first introduced in spring 2023.