Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda sees no grounds for lifting sanctions on Minsk and therefore no reason to resume the transit of Belarusian fertilizers, even in light of the easing of US sanctions. He said this in an interview with the Žinių radijas radio station.
He emphasized the importance of unity within the European Union and recalled that he had discussed the issue with representatives of Latvia and Poland.
“It is very important that we all remain partners in the European Union and approach emerging issues in the same way. That is precisely why I took the opportunity to attend one of the international meetings. I spoke in great detail with the Polish and Latvian leaders about how they would act in a hypothetical situation. A question would arise within the EU. Here are the logistical channels for Belarusian fertilizers. Lithuania’s position was very clear and remains absolutely clear.
From the very beginning, the sanctions were introduced on entirely different grounds. Not because balloons flew into Lithuania, but because the results of the 2020 elections raised very serious doubts about their credibility, to put it mildly. After that came the instrumentalization of migration. After that, there was the forced landing of an aircraft, which endangered the safety of civil aviation. And without a doubt, Belarus is participating in the war against Ukraine as a close ally of Russia. That is the reason for all this.
While we are jointly discussing this in the European Council, Lithuania is indeed taking the initiative and saying that sanctions against Belarus and Russia should mirror the sanctions against Russia. These sanctions were introduced. And then I ask directly: has at least one of the reasons for these sanctions disappeared? Has Belarus’s behavior changed? None of this has changed, and therefore I see no reason why we should, in principle, review this issue. And the response from my colleagues in Latvia and Poland was very clear. We see no grounds for transporting these fertilizers through the ports of our countries. Therefore, this position fully corresponds to Lithuania’s position,” he said.
It should be recalled that last week Nausėda had already stated that he had received assurances from the leadership of Poland and Latvia of their readiness to adhere to the same position as Vilnius on the issue of the transit of Belarusian fertilizers.
Nausėda also noted that no requests have been received from American allies to ease sanctions against Belarus or to allow the transit of potash. According to him, “such issues have not been raised,” and therefore “there is nothing to discuss.”