G. Nausėda: no pressure from the US to resume Belarusian fertiliser transit

President Gitanas Nausėda says that Lithuania is exchanging positions with US representatives on relations with Belarus, but is not under pressure to resume the transit of Belarusian fertilisers, which had been suspended several years ago.

„There is no pressure on Belarusian fertilisers – yes, we exchange information from time to time, we tell some things to our American friends, they also present their views on Belarus“, – the president told reporters on Friday.

Discussions about possible US pressure on Lithuania resumed on Thursday after Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said that there is a sense of "intensification" from the Donald Trump administration on this issue.

„Yes, there are conversations going on, but there is a very clear answer that for the next (…) nine months we have practically still valid and extended European sanctions. Since these are European sanctions and not national sanctions, we could not change anything here even if we wanted to," Nausėda said.

The Belarusian regime, he said, „continues to remain unchanged“ and is aiding Russian aggression against Ukraine, so next year's discussion at the European Union (EU) level on the extension of sanctions will need to assess whether these circumstances have changed.

„If the situation remains unchanged, I will be in favour of extending the sanctions. But, of course, the Belarusian regime always has the chance to show that it wants more normal sanctions, that it is turning away from the Putin regime. Although the chances of this happening are very small, I would not rule it out completely. We are always ready to work closely with our American partners on these issues," Nausėda stressed.

The Foreign Minister also said earlier that Lithuania sticks to the EU's common position – the sanctions against Belarus have been extended until February next year, so there is no need to discuss lifting the restrictions at this time.

Juozas Olekas, the Speaker of the Seimas, told Elta that he has not received any signals from the US on resuming the transit of fertilisers, while Ignas Dobrovolskas, the Prime Minister's adviser, said that no negotiations on the issue are taking place and that it cannot be discussed with the EU's sanctions in force.

Former US President Joe Biden's administration imposed sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilisers in 2021, a year after the Belarusian presidential election won by Aliaksandr Lukashenko, who is not recognised by the West.

The EU also imposed sanctions on Belarusian fertilisers in 2022, at which time the Lithuanian state-owned Lithuanian Railways Group (LTG) terminated a fertiliser transit contract following a decision by Ingrid Šimonytė's government that year that the state-owned fertiliser producer Belaruskalij posed a threat to national security.

Until then, the transit was due to run until the end of 2023.