Because Poland and Ukraine together block the land routes from Russia to Western Europe, many Russian truckers have been switching to Belarussian vehicles to continue their trek Westward, the transport ministry said.
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Inspectors from the Russian freight transport oversight body Rostransnadzor have seized documents from the trucks and parked them on specially designated lots, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
Ukrainian authorities so far haven’t commented on the issue.
The measure follows a halt to all flights between the neighbours and an effective Russian freeze on Ukrainian imports that have hit the cash-strapped country’s industrial exports especially hard.
However, on Sunday, Feb. 14, Russian Federation responded to the blockade with tit-for-tat measures, blocking Ukrainian trucks from crossing the country. Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry and Russia’s Transport Ministry have agreed to introduce the “back home” regime on February 16 through February 25, the Ukrainian ministry reported.
Relations between the neighboring countries have fallen to a new low after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and a conflict pitting Ukrainian government troops against Russian-backed rebels has destroyed large parts of eastern Ukraine and left more than 9,000 people dead.
“Ukraine has temporarily suspended… transit permits for cargo vehicles with Russian registrations until it receives an explanation and resolution of this dispute”, Yatseniuk said in a statement.
The blanket suspension is an extension of action already taken: on Monday said it had stopped 152 Ukrainian trucks from heading towards Kazakhstan.
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Exports to the Ukraine, hitherto Russian principal global market for spirits, fell by 90% year on year.
