Russia’s disputes with neighbours complicate road transport

BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2016/07

With the closure of routes through Ukraine and Poland, Russian lorries have currently practically no land connection to Central Europe. Russia and Ukraine this week declared reciprocal blockades on Ukrainian and Russian lorries seeking to cross their borders. Russia said it was blocking traffic in response to recent interference of Ukrainian protesters seeking to prohibit movement of Russian lorries through Ukraine. Ukraine responded with its own border shutdown. At the start of January, Russia imposed restrictions on Ukrainian road freight transiting Russia to Kazakhstan.

The situation is made more problematic for Russia by the fact that it already has a similar blockade in force with Poland. That bilateral transport agreement expired at the start of this month and negotiations on a new agreement have stalled over transport permit quotas. While economic effects of the transport feuds are likely to remain limited for Russia as a whole, the transport sector faces extra costs as do some firms that have to revise their logistics chains.

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