Ukrainian official appeals to government to make a decision regarding transit of Russian trucks through Ukraine
The Chairman of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration, Gennady Moskal, has appealed to the Ukrainian government to make a decision with regard to Russian trucks that travel through Ukraine to the European Union.
According to Moskal, after activists started blocking the transit of Russian cargo transport in several parts of Ukraine, the situation in the Lower Gates, which is the entrance to Transcarpathia from Lviv at the Veracom Pass, is normal. Beginning on Saturday morning and during Sunday night, there were no attempts of Russian trucks to pass through the Lower Gate. The checkpoint is working normally.
There were no incidents at checkpoints along the borders of the EU countries within the Carpathians. As of Sunday morning, one Russian truck passed through the Djakovo checkpoint en route to Romania. Two Russian trucks used the Uzhgorod checkpoint en route to Slovakia. Moskal reported on his website that these trucks were carefully checked by customs officials and that there are no more Russian trucks at the checkpoint area at the present time.
“However, another problem has arisen. From Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, approximately 100 Russian trucks have passed through a checkpoint in Transcarpathian to Ukraine for one day. They were all checked by the customs officials and the border guards. As for the Russian trucks which enter Ukrainian territory from the EU, as well as those that go through Ukraine to the EU countries, the government should gather for an emergency meeting [to decide]. We are waiting for them to make a major decision regarding this,” Moskal said.
During the past few days, the social movement for halting the transit of Russian goods through Ukrainian territory has spread to several regions of Ukraine. Activists have appealed to Moskal as the Chairman of the Regional State Administration of Transcarpathia, which is responsible for the largest traffic flow of Russian goods, to encourage the Ukrainian authorities to officially ban Russian transit.
Since the beginning of January 2016, Russia has reported on the introduction of significant restrictions for transit of Ukrainian goods through Russian territory to Kazakhstan. As a result, Ukrainian transit through the territory of Russia is nearly nonexistent.