In an interview with the portal of Lithuanian national television and radio LRT, Budrys called what is happening between the US and Belarus a bilateral matter for those states. According to him, the lifting of US sanctions is not directly related to the EU’s sanctions policy, so Vilnius does not consider this issue to directly concern Lithuania.
The minister said that he had already informed American officials about the EU’s current sanctions regime. Budrys emphasized that the restrictions prohibit EU countries not only from importing Belarusian fertilizers, but also from providing conditions for their transit through their territory, and potash fertilizers mined in Belarus cannot enter EU territory.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius told LRT that the country has not yet received a request from the US to allow transit through its territory. The chief adviser to the Lithuanian president on national security, Deividas Matulionis, also said that Washington has not yet discussed with Vilnius any agreements on resuming the transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers through the port of Klaipėda in Lithuania.
Budrys separately said that there are no grounds to talk about revising sanctions, and sees no reason for discussions on this issue. EU sanctions against Belarusian fertilizers are in force until February next year, and the US president said on Monday that Washington intends to conclude a major agreement to purchase potassium chloride from Belarus.
In mid-September, Alexander Lukashenko announced the resumption of supplies of Belarusian potash fertilizers to the US after the lifting of sanctions. In March, the US removed Belaruskali and its trader the Belarusian Potash Company from the SDN List, where they had been included in August 2021.
Since February 1, 2022, the Lithuanian government has terminated the contract with Belaruskali for the transit of potash through the port of Klaipėda, through which practically the entire annual volume of Belarusian potash exports was traditionally transshipped. After that, Belarus began exporting through Russian ports and also supplies mineral fertilizers to China by rail.
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