Lithuania has denounced its agreement with Belarus on a simplified travel regime
The Lithuanian Seimas unanimously supported the denunciation of the agreement with Belarus on a special regime for cross-border travel for residents of border regions. The document, signed back in 2010, never entered into force over the course of 16 years.
Lawmakers adopted the decision to terminate the agreement during a session on June 30.
Under the agreement, certain categories of Lithuanian and Belarusian citizens living near the state border were eligible for visa-free border crossings with special permits. They were also permitted to stay in the neighboring country within 50 kilometers of the border for up to 90 days every six months.
Such permits could be obtained by individuals who had family, trade and economic, cultural, or other important reasons for travel, but without the right to employment.
The Lithuanian parliament ratified the agreement back in 2011, but it never came into effect. The reason was that the Belarusian side had not completed the necessary domestic procedures and had not notified the Lithuanian authorities of this.
The initiative to denounce the agreement came from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which proposed in the spring of 2026 to definitively withdraw from the agreement. At the end of June, a corresponding draft resolution was submitted to the Seimas for consideration.
Thus, Lithuania has officially terminated the agreement, which had remained a mere formality and had never been applied in practice.
This was reported by LRT.
On June 15, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the chargé d’affaires of Belarus and lodged a strong protest over numerous violations of the country’s airspace. According to Vilnius, the incidents occurred in May and June and involved hot-air balloons carrying contraband and other unmanned aerial vehicles that entered from Belarusian territory.
The ministry once again called on Belarus to uphold its international obligations, ensure effective control over its airspace, and take decisive measures to combat criminal activities related to smuggling.
Earlier, Lithuania reported a new airspace violation by an unidentified object.
Lithuania has called on Europe to prepare for drone incidents.
See also: Following inspections in May, the two largest payment terminal networks—EasyPay (LLC “FC ‘Kontraktovy Dom’”) and City24 (LLC “Swift Garant”)—were hit with massive fines: 135 million hryvnias each. The official reason sounds complicated: “inadequate organization of initial financial monitoring.” Simply put, the National Bank believes that the companies failed to properly verify the origin of the funds passing through their terminals.
