The Lithuanian customs seized the first vehicle with Russian license plates, the customs press service said on Tuesday.
The vehicle was seized at the Medininkai checkpoint on Monday. A Moldovan citizen heading to Belarus was driving an Audi Q7 with Russian license plates. A check of the documents presented by the driver revealed that another person, a Russian citizen, owned the Audi.
The driver was told that Lithuania introduced administrative liability for people driving vehicles with Russian license plates from March 11 and that a breach of the new regulations was punishable with a fine and possible seizure of the vehicle. An administrative offense motion was drafted in regard to the Audi Q7 driver, who said he was unaware of the restrictions.
The vehicle, which costs EUR 41,690, was seized, the press service said.
The customs noted that, starting from March 11, vehicles registered in Russia could not be present in Lithuanian territory unless they are reregistered.
The only exception is made for Russian citizens in transit to or from Russia’s Kaliningrad region on a simplified transit document. However, such transit through Lithuania cannot take more than 24 hours, and the vehicle owner must be onboard the vehicle in transit. A vehicle without its owner onboard is not allowed to enter Lithuania.