Lithuania Plans To Provide Ukraine With Confiscated Russian Cars

Owners of Russian-registered cars still have time to re-register them.

Lithuania will start to confiscate Russian-registered cars and transfer them to Ukraine in mid-March 2024, according to DELFI.

Entry into Lithuania by Russian-registered cars has been prohibited since September 11, except for those in transit to the Kaliningrad region. The exact number of Russian-registered cars in Lithuania is unknown.

“In the first week we counted 58 Russian-registered cars, in the second 70 more, and now either none or 1-3 per day,” said Lithuanian Customs Department representative Irina Frolova-Milashene.

Chair of the Committee on National Security and Defence Laurynas Kasčiūnas explains that in Lithuania, owners of Russian-registered cars are provided with a “transition period” until March 11, 2024. During this period, they must remove their vehicles from the country. Upon expiration of the period, their cars will either be confiscated or escorted to the border and expelled to Russia.

Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Poland and other countries (for example, Bulgaria) also introduced similar bans on the entry of Russian-registered cars. However, of all these countries, only the Latvian authorities have so far announced a specific intention to confiscate such cars on their territory - from February 1, 2024: car owners are offered to either take them out of the country or re-register them locally. Confiscation of such vehicles is actively carried out in Germany.