On Friday, Alexander Lukashenko threatened to impose sanctions on Warsaw and Vilnius and redirect the country’s exports away from the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda.
“I have instructed the government to work out measures to redirect all trade flows from Lithuanian ports to others,” Lukashenko was quoted by Belarusian state news agency BelTa. “We will show them their place.”
Currently, the majority of Belarusian exports transit via Lithuania by rail and through the port of Klaipėda. Lithuania’s state-owned railway company, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai, also carries Belarusian imports.
Lithuania plans to impose national sanctions on some 118 Belarusian officials, and together with Poland and the other Baltic states has been a staunch advocate for EU-wide action against Lukashenko’s regime.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said Lukashenko was going “va banque”, a gambling term used to describe a risky ‘all in’ move.
Read more: Lithuania to impose sanctions on 118 Belarusian officials
"It's a continuation of all his other threats. Naturally, he is going va banque and is using all methods he knows," the minister told BNS by phone from Berlin. "Some of his actions are inadequate but it's hard to evaluate something here, it's a natural defensive behavior to stay in this position, ignoring both the internal situation and pressure from the international community."
The Lithuanian foreign minister says the Belarusian regime should evaluate the country's economic situation and make logical decisions.
"We'll see how that works out practically as we have heard similar statements numerous times,” said Linkevičius.
"We have to realise that our economic cooperation is one of the areas we call pragmatic as it has played well for both sides, not only for Lithuania. It would be illogical to destroy it," he said.
Lithuania’s sanctions on Belarus will be confirmed following consultations with Latvia and Estonia. The national sanctions have no financial levers, and only include entry bans for officials responsible for vote-rigging and violence against proters in Belarus.
The European Union is also considering introducing sanctions on Belarusian officials, which, accoridng to Linkevičius, would be more effective as they also include financial measures.
Diplomatic sources have told BNS the list, expected to be approved in September, will include around 20 people.
Read more: With the US absent, Baltics lead the way in support for Belarus
Sanctions would hit Belarus first – Lithuanian PM
Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said the retaliatory sanctions would hit Belarus first.
"It's hard to understand how much you would want to hold onto power and hate your own nation to be prepared to do harm to your own state and your own people because of your ambition," Skvernelis posted on Facebook. "If the [sanctions] are adopted, they will, first of all, hit Belarus."
Losing cargo would be painful to Lithuania – transport minister
"There's no disruption of cargo movement right now. It would be truly illogical and bad if [Minsk takes the] decisions [that will] damage the wellbeing of the people of Belarus,” Lithuanian Transport Minister Jaroslav Narkevič told BNS.
There are currently no easy options for Belarus to diver its freight, according to Narkevič.
"We are looking into the situation, and it's clear that there are no other alternatives today [for Belarus] to use either Latvians or [Russia’s] St Petersburg ports," the minister said.
Narkevič acknowledged, however, that losing cargo freight from Belarus would be painful to Lithuania.
Belarusian freight accounts for 30.2 percent of the Klaipėda port's annual turnover, standing at 15.5 million tons, according to figures from the Transport Ministry.
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