Lithuanian Foreign Minister comments on possible US-Belarus potash deal
"Regardless of who owns the potash fertilizers, regardless of which company ships them, potash fertilizers extracted in Belarus cannot end up on EU territory."
Yesterday, US President Donald Trump stated that he is working on a deal with Belarus to buy potash fertilizers at a lower price than the US receives from neighboring Canada.
Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys commented to LRT that this is a matter of bilateral relations between the US and Belarus, and reportedly does not directly affect Lithuania.
“What happens between the US and Belarus are bilateral relations, the relations of these states. What sanctions the US lifts is not directly related to what the European Union does, what sanctions policy it adheres to,” he said.
Asked whether Washington had expressed a desire for Belarusian potash fertilizers to move to the US market via Lithuanian territory or Lithuanian ports, Budrys said that he had consulted American officials on how EU sanctions work: “The current regulation when imposing sanctions against Belarus stipulates that there can be no fertilizers on EU territory. This also covers transit. Regardless of who owns the potash fertilizers, regardless of which company ships them, in which country it might be registered, potash fertilizers extracted in Belarus cannot end up on EU territory,” says Budrys.
Therefore, no EU state can currently be part of the fertilizer agreement between the US and Belarus, assures the Lithuanian Foreign Minister.
Asked whether the US had pressured Lithuania or the EU regarding a review of sanctions against Belarus, Budrys says that the reasons why sanctions were imposed against Belarus are clear — human rights violations, suppression of the opposition, support for Russia. "Until this changes, there are no grounds to say that sanctions can be reviewed. I see no room for debate on this topic today," Budrys stated.
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