Vilnius will maintain a firm stance on sanctions against Belarus, including restrictions on the transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers, despite possible international pressure, Prime Minister-designate Inga Ruginienė has said.
“If we do not continue to push for sanctions and a tough stance on the aggressor, it will be bad. The United States may apply pressure, but I think we are unyielding here,” she told BNS on Friday.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko released 52 political prisoners on Thursday, including six Lithuanian citizens. Shortly afterwards, White House envoy John Coale announced that US sanctions on Belarusian state airline Belavia had been lifted, a decision reportedly taken by President Donald Trump himself.
The announcement prompted speculation that Washington could seek to pressure Lithuania into resuming the transit of Belarusian fertilizer exports through the port of Klaipėda.
For more than a decade, Belaruskali’s products had been transported from Belarus to Klaipėda, but Lithuania halted transit in February 2022 after the state-owned railway operator ended its long-term contract with the Belarusian potash company.
The move followed US sanctions and a national security assessment. The EU imposed its own restrictions on the company in March 2022.
Ruginienė said she opposed any relaxation of sanctions on Russia or Belarus.
“On the contrary, I believe the sanctions package should only be tightened and that we need to do even more,” she said.
The prime minister-designate expressed hope that Lithuania’s diplomats would work to persuade partners that the sanctions package should remain in place and be tightened.
Asked whether sanctions could be revisited in talks over the continued US troop presence in Lithuania, she acknowledged that “it would certainly be possible to talk about it”.
Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys also reiterated on Friday that there were no plans to review sanctions, and that EU and national measures against Minsk remain in place despite the release of some political prisoners.
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