Belarusians complain about queues at the border with Russia. What are they saying?
Many are also concerned about whether there is a fuel shortage on the way from Belarus to Moscow.
Queue at the Russian-Belarusian border. Screenshot of a video from social networks
Hours-long queues now not only for entry into the EU
Travelers note that one can spend several hours in queues at the Belarusian-Russian border, in both directions.
A person who was returning from Russia to Belarus on June 22 writes on Threads that they crossed the border by car in the Smolensk — Vitebsk direction in 1.5 hours. Two weeks earlier, on the way from Belarus to Russia, he spent a full 2 hours in a queue.
The man adds that in previous years, crossing the border took him literally five minutes.
Some commentators note that 1.5 hours is still quite fast for this route.
“You're fast. 2-3 hours at this checkpoint in the last 2 months is already normal,” wrote one of the female commentators.
Another reported that she spent three hours in the queue on the night of June 12.
“For the return journey, we chose another road via Velikiye Luki; there's no border there, but there is a 30 km gravel road,” she adds.
Driving through the forest
There are plenty of people who advise bypassing the main highway using forest paths.
A man who drove from Minsk to Smolensk via M-1 the day before yesterday and was shocked by the queue, wrote that on the way back to Belarus, he went through a post located somewhere in the forest, so there were only two cars there.
Belarusian-Russian border. Photo: @rossia_belarus / Telegram
Others add that similar life hacks only work for exiting Russia, and for entering, one will still have to wait a bit.
Some also note that the size of the queue, even on the M-1, largely depends on the time and day of the week.
“It depends on what time you arrive: on Friday evening, we got from Belarus to Russia in 40 minutes, and on Sunday evening, when we returned to Belarus, there was no queue at all,” writes one user.
A woman who frequently crosses the border claims that there are almost always queues now.
“Now, most often, 1.5 hours or more is the norm; it's rare to get through faster,” she shares her experience.
Only the Russian side conducts checks
Overall, the trend is that entering Belarus from Russia is faster than entering Russia from Belarus, as control is exclusively carried out by the Russian side, and it is more thorough upon entry into the Russian Federation.
Overall, if there's a big traffic jam on the M1, it's advised to go through the village of Lyady. Apparently, there are usually no queues there, and the inspection itself is quicker.
Travelers' documents, luggage, and vehicles are inspected.
Among the commentators, there are many who note that crossing the border with Russia now takes as much time as crossing into the EU.
What else worries those traveling to Russia?
Besides queues and where to pass faster, fuel has been actively discussed in border chats in recent days.
Illustrative photo. Photo: Nasha Niva
Many are concerned about whether there is a fuel shortage on the way from Belarus to Moscow.
People report that there are no problems with fuel in the Smolensk region, though there are queues of 5-7 cars at each pump at gas stations.
Fuel transportation norms in canisters are also actively discussed. People write that, according to Russian border guards, no more than 100 liters of fuel can be transported from Belarus to Russia. The main thing is that the container should be metal; apparently, there might be issues with plastic ones.
"There were 240 of us in the group. Seven were captured. The rest are Cargo 200 (killed)." Andrei from Vitebsk, the 'can opener man', became one of the seven lucky ones 1818
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