Poland will prevent all cars with Russian registration from crossing into the country as it implements new European Union trade sanctions.
Starting at midnight on Saturday, no cars registered in Russia will be allowed into Polish territory, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said at a news conference on the border crossing with Belarus in Terespol.
The decision follows similar moves taken in recent days by Finland and the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. EU trade sanctions were updated on Sept 8. with a specific ban on cars, Kaminski said.
Read more: Finland to Ban Most Russian Arrivals by Car From Midnight
“Russian trucks were already subject to this ban,” Kaminski told reporters. “Now we are closing this matter. No Russian car will enter Poland.”
Poland shares a 232-kilometer (144 mile) border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea as well as an almost 400km frontier with Belarus, one of Moscow’s top allies.
EU countries have tightened and increased trade sanctions on Russia following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, building on restrictions imposed following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.