Inga Ruginienė: sanctions on Belarusian fertilisers will make us unstoppable
Prime Minister-designate Inga Ruginienė says that despite possible pressure to revise the sanctions against Belarus, including the lifting of the ban on transit of potassium fertilisers through Lithuania, Vilnius will be adamant.
„If we don't go ahead and press for sanctions and a tough attitude towards the aggressor, it will be bad. The United States may press, but I think we are not going to be strong here," Ruginiene said in an interview with BNS on Friday.
She made the remarks after Belarus released 52 political prisoners on Thursday and the United States announced shortly afterwards the lifting of sanctions on the Belarusian airline „Belavia“.
This has prompted discussions that Washington may pressure Lithuania to, among other things, resume the transit of Belarusian fertiliser exports through the port of Klaipėda.
The transit of „Belaruskalij“ goods through Lithuania to the port of Klaipėda was stopped on February 1, 2022, after the government confirmed that the contract between „Lietuvos geležinkeliai“ and „Belaruskalij“, which was due to be valid by the end of 2023, was not in the country's security interests.
I. Ruginienė said that she did not agree that sanctions against Russia and Belarus should be eased.
„I just think that the sanctions package only needs to get tougher and that we need to do more“, – said the Prime Minister-designate.
She expressed the hope that the country's diplomatic corps is working to convince partners that the sanctions package must remain and get tougher.
True, when asked whether easing sanctions could be a subject of discussion in the negotiations on the continued presence of US troops in Lithuania, or even an increase in the number of troops in Lithuania, the Prime Minister said that this „could certainly be discussed“.
Earlier on Friday, Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said that there were no discussions on a possible review of sanctions against Belarus, and stressed that despite the release of a number of political prisoners, the European Union's and Lithuania's national sanctions against the Minsk regime remain in place.
