The Ukrainian press reports border protests by Romanian hauliers and farmers, who are blocking the transportation of goods, putting them in a mirror against the Poles, who have just decided to take a “strategic pause” until March 1, after reaching an agreement with the government.

“The blockade of the western borders for trucks seems to be coming to an end. At least on the Polish side, the checkpoints will be free at least until March 1, Romania’s decision is expected in the coming days,” writes RBC-Ukraine, citing News.ro.

On the Romanian side, the Siret and Vikovu de Sous checkpoints, corresponding to Porubne and Krasnoilsk points in Ukraine, continue to be blocked due to farmers’ protests. “The blocking takes place at a certain distance from the border. If the peculiarity of these checkpoints is that only empty trucks can pass through Krasnoilsk, then loaded ones can pass through Porubne. Only a few trucks crossed it yesterday, although 500-600 can pass in this direction trucks per day in both directions,” said the Ukrainian customs official.

It is not known how many trucks are waiting in line on the territory of Romania, as the Ukrainian border police do not have such information, RBC-Ukraine notes.

As for the Poles, protests at the border have been ongoing since early November, but they have agreed with the new government of Donald Tusk to suspend the movement until at least March 1. “This is not the end, but the protest will be stopped. We agreed on certain conditions. We will give the government time to work, because it is a new government,” said Tomasz Borkowski, representative of the Committee for the Protection of Transport Carriers and Employers in Poland.

The blockade of the border by Romania began on January 13, 2024. First, farmers blocked the traffic of trucks for several hours at the “Siret” checkpoint, which is opposite the Ukrainian “Porubne” checkpoint, the line of trucks stretched for 6 km. Two days after the failure of negotiations with the authorities, the queue stretched to Vikov de Sous, opposite the Ukrainian checkpoint in Krasnoilsk.

The reason was the complaints of Romanian farmers from Suceava and Botosani counties about imports from Ukraine, explains RBC-Ukraine. According to them, Ukrainian grain occupied all the transshipment capacities of the port of Constanta and led to a decrease in prices for agricultural products. Among their demands is the need to provide subsidies and compensation to those who suffered losses due to these imports, as well as the restoration of customs duties on Ukrainian goods.

Zelensky praised Yohannis, Cholaku understands the protesters

Interestingly, during the December press conference, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, criticized the Polish blockade and stated that because of it, Ukraine “lost hundreds of millions of dollars and part of the harvest.” “The EU was against blocking the border. Thank God, Romania is there, and President Iohannis helped our farmers survive. He also had strikes, but I think he turned out to be a strong person,” Zelenskyy said, RBC Ukraine reports.

Ukrainian media also quoted Romania’s Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barba, as saying that he had reached an agreement with the farmers on some demands, and that negotiations would continue for unfulfilled demands to find a compromise. According to him, the Romanian government has committed to subsidize agricultural excise taxes until 2026, adopt rules for subsidized loans, compensate losses caused by Ukrainian grain, introduce grain marking and electronic monitoring of seals via GPS in the port of Constanta. RBC-Ukraine emphasizes that there is no question of a tax on the import of grain from Ukraine. However, as the representative of the farmers at the negotiations, Marius Miku, said, the agreement does not mean an immediate end to the blockade.

The day before, more than 150 drivers from Ukraine staged a protest in the center of the city of Siret, dissatisfied with the fact that the movement of farmers and transporters blocked their passage through customs. According to Gendarmerie representative Roxana Juliana Botezatu, they were allowed to move in convoy to the checkpoint from today (not on Wednesday), from 09:30. By noon, about a hundred farmers blocked the Siret customs office with about 50 tractors and 15 cars, and the convoy of trucks blocked at the crossing to Ukraine reached about 20 kilometers. According to Alina Petraru, spokesperson of the Suceava border police, no truck has entered the Siret checkpoint since Monday afternoon. Passage of passenger cars, buses and minibuses continues as usual.

Romanian Prime Minister Ion-Marcel Ciolacu hopes that the farmers’ protests will end in a few days. He also justifies his actions with “accumulated frustrations”, the Ukrainian agency notes.

“I tried to understand why they started. In my opinion, they are justified. This is an accumulated frustration. We had a pandemic, an energy crisis, a war. There was an influx of goods from Ukraine to Romania. This is a cumulative factor that does not necessarily depend on the government , but we have to follow it,” he said.

In conclusion, as the RCB shows, Ukrainian border guards do not know when the blocking of trucks from the Romanian side will end. “We only have information from the Romanian border police that such actions have begun. But the Romanian border police did not inform us directly about the reasons and how long it may last,” said Andriy Demchenko, the spokesman of the State Border Police Service. Ukraine.

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