Ryzhankou: We Need to Think a Hundred Times About Whether We Need Baltic Ports

Reform.news Editorial Team · 6 October 2026, 16:18

https://reform.news/en/ryzhankou-we-need-to-think-a-hundred-times-about-whether-we-need-baltic-ports/

Belarus considers EU countries, particularly the Baltic states, unreliable partners and questions the need to use their ports to handle its goods. Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhankou said this in an interview with Russia’s RIA Novosti.

Asked whether Belarus was ready to restore its former relations with the West after the war in Ukraine ends, Ryzhankou said the Baltic states were unreliable partners.

“There are two sides to this. First, the European Union and its individual members, especially the Baltic states, are extremely unreliable and inconsistent partners. We need to think a hundred times about whether we need Baltic ports at all to handle our goods because of such emotional, unfounded outbursts. ‘We are great countries, members of the European Union, so today we can impose national sanctions, ban something for Belarusians, tomorrow seize potash terminals, and the day after tomorrow in Klaipėda refuse to let powdered milk through that is being shipped to Africa in containers.’

We have a sanatorium in Druskininkai that needs to be ‘taken away.’ You understand? Today the position is one thing, tomorrow it is another, and the day after tomorrow it is a third,” Ryzhankou said.

In his view, it is difficult for Minsk to build pragmatic and predictable relations with such neighbors.

The Belarusian foreign minister stressed that Belarus would not sacrifice relations with its allies and established supply chains “for the sake of resolving short-term issues.”

He also recalled Belarusian railcars, trucks and river vessels carrying goods that had been confiscated by Ukraine.

“How can you simply take it tomorrow and say, ‘It’s all over, let’s work’? You need to think ten times afterward, you understand?” Ryzhankou said.

Ryzhankou also allowed for a possible meeting between Aliaksandr Lukashenka and Donald Trump, said that the issue of potash fertilizers had been discussed during meetings with John Coale, but “not at the cost of our relations with Russia,” and noted that Belarus maintains contacts with EU countries but does not publicize them.

Belarus recently sent 30,000 tons of potash to the United States through the Bronka port in St. Petersburg. The cargo is expected to arrive in the United States on October 14.