Lithuanian Prime Minister: We Will Be Adamant On The Issue Of Sanctions For Belarusian Fertilizers

• 13.09.2025, 12:01

Vilnius will not allow transit even with US pressure.

Lithuanian Prime Minister-designate Inga Ruginenė says that despite possible pressure to reimpose sanctions on Belarus, including lifting restrictions on the transit of potash fertilizers through Lithuania, Vilnius will be adamant, LRT reports.

"If we don't go further and put pressure on sanctions and a tough approach to the aggressor, it will be bad. Perhaps the US will press, but I think we are adamant here," Inga Ruginenė said in an interview with BNS on Friday.

She said this after Belarus released 52 political prisoners on Thursday and the US soon announced it had lifted sanctions on the Belarusian airline Belavia.

This sparked discussions that Washington may be pressuring Lithuania to resume transit of Belarusian fertilizer through the port of Klaipeda, among other things.

Transit of Belaruskali cargo through Lithuania to the Port of Klaipeda was halted on February 1, 2022, after the government confirmed that the contract between Lithuanian Railways and Belaruskali, valid until the end of 2023, was not in the country's security interests.

Ruginenė said she disagreed with the easing of sanctions against Russia and Belarus.

"I just think that the sanctions package should only get tougher and we should do more," the prime minister-designate said.

She expressed hope that the country's diplomatic corps would work to convince partners to maintain and tighten sanctions.

But when asked whether the easing of sanctions could be a subject of discussion in talks on the further stay of U.S. troops in Lithuania, or perhaps even an increase in their numbers, the prime minister said that "it would certainly be possible to talk about that."