Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said on Monday that the US lifting sanctions on Belarusian fertilisers will not affect the Baltic country, which previously handled the bulk of the fertiliser exports.
"The European Union sanctions are still in force and apply to both imports, ie the conclusion of contracts with companies, and transit. We have already received clarification on this matter, and the question has been answered," Budrys told LRT RADIO on Monday.
"As long as the EU sanctions remain in force, such activities cannot be carried out in Lithuania, Latvia or Poland," he added.
Speaking about the US's intentions to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash exports, the foreign minister stressed that this decision would leave the assets of Belarusian companies frozen.
"The assets remain frozen, the restrictions remain in force, it is only possible to conclude contracts, and such a relaxation can be reversed at any time – this is called a snapback mechanism, so that it is not necessary to go through all the procedures to impose sanctions again, that there are many conditions and if those conditions are not met, the sanctions return in full," Budrys said.
The Belarusian state news agency Belta, citing US Special Envoy John Coale, announced on Saturday that the US intends to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash exports.
Lithuania suspended the transit of Belarusian potash fertilisers on February 1, 2022, after the US imposed sanctions on Belaruskali, the largest potash fertilizer producer in Belarus and among the biggest globally.
Belaruskali is also considered a key source of income for the authoritarean regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
Belaruskali filed a lawsuit against Lithuania with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in December last year, demanding compensation of 12.09 billion US dollars.
Hasenberg has also initiated international arbitration proceedings against Lithuania, but has not yet filed a lawsuit. The Swiss company is owned by Igor Udovickij, an indirect shareholder of Birių Kroviniu Terminalas (BKT), a company that used to handle Belaruskali's fertilisers in the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda,
Belaruskali owns 30 percent of BKT shares, while Udovicki, a Lithuanian citizen, directly and indirectly owns 70 percent.
In early December, Udovickij posted on Facebook that the Kaliya Parks terminal in the Latvian port of Ventspils, which had been handling Belarusian potash fertilisers until 2008, had already begun preparations to resume handling them.
Udovickij previously told reporters that the US sanctions do not prevent the transit of potash through the EU.
"National economic interests are the top priority. When Lithuania considers this, perhaps then we will be able to talk about prospects," Udovickij told BNS.
The US sanctions against Belaruskali came into force on December 8, 2021.
Meanwhile, the EU imposed sanctions against Belaruskali on March 2, 2022, when Brussels adopted a regulation prohibiting the transport of potash fertilisers from Belarus.
Belaruskali's transit from the border with Belarus to the port of Klaipėda had been going on for more than a decade and was supposed to continue until the end of 2023.
EU, Lithuania to reassess sanctions in the future – official
The European Union and Lithuania will have to reconsider sanctions on Belaruskali in the future, the national security adviser to Lithuania’s president told reporters on Monday.
“There may be pressure” from Washington on Brussels and Vilnius to lift the restrictions, Deividas Matulionis, the adviser, said after a meeting of the State Defence Council.
“I can confirm that we have not received any direct pressure from the US. However, discussions within the European Union may include attempts to assess what the situation will look like when the US lifts the sanctions, how exactly the potash fertilisers will be transported and through which countries,” he said.
"The time will come when we will need to discuss this issue, look at it, evaluate it, and make the most appropriate decision," Matulionis added.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė and Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys confirmed earlier that the EU sanctions against Belaruskali would remain in force.
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