Russia and Belarus are constantly looking for ways to get round EU sanctions, but it is necessary to find ways to prevent this from happening, says Marius Vaščega, head of the European Commission Representation in Lithuania.
“It is our duty to find ways to ensure that sanctions are not circumvented,” he told LRT RADIO on Wednesday.
Read more: How sanctioned Belarusian firm channeled exports via Lithuania – investigation
The European Commission coordinates the application of sanctions, Vaščega said, and has set up various mechanisms to deal with cases where issues arise.
“The [currently available] instruments are sufficient,” he added.
“With new packages, we can probably look at whether there is some room for change, but today the aim is for everybody to do their job and to do their best to ensure that the sanctions are applied in full, and to treat seriously every case where this does not happen and to analyse it seriously,” he said.
The official noted that EU member states and their authorities were directly responsible for implementing the bloc’s sanctions.
Lithuania’s investigative journalism centre Siena (Wall) has recently published an investigation showing that the transit of EU-sanctioned Belarusian fertilisers through Lithuania, suspended last year, has not in fact stopped.
Traced back to its only producer in Belarus, Grodno Azot, urea continues to move by rail to Klaipėda-based Birių Krovinių Terminalas (Bulk Cargo Terminal, BKT), which is partly owned by Belarus’ state-owned company Belaruskali, according to the investigation carried out by Siena and its partners.
Both Grodno Azot and Belaruskali are subject to EU sanctions.
Reportedly, urea transported both by road and rail can cross the Lithuanian border thanks to a loophole in the sanctions.
Since the EU sanctions apply to Grodno Azot and not to urea, other Belarusian companies that are not under sanctions are named in official documents as fertiliser suppliers.
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