We want to have instruments in case EU sanctions start to falter - Lithuanian FM

VILNIUS - Lithuania and other countries in the region want to have instruments if the EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus become ineffective, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says after the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday registered amendments aimed at providing for the possibility of introducing national economic sanctions against Moscow and Minsk.

"Our desire is to have instruments in case the EU sanctions start to falter, if we see that they are ineffective and countries in the regional needed to impose own sanctions, and there are various ways to do this, and national sanctions we are proposing is one of them," Budrys, who is in Turkey, said on Thursday.

"We are consulting with the countries in the region, we are looking at what decisions they have made, and what we can do. We are talking to the European Commission about what we are going to do. (...) We are talking with the Poles and the other Baltic states," he said.

Lithuania's top diplomat hopes the EU will extend its existing sanctions against Russia, but if not, the countries in the region would make their own decisions.

"Our wish is to stop the Russian military machine, (...) we have to do our best and not to allow even the slightest risk that the whole system we have been building for three years collapses," Budrys underlined.

Lithuania is seeking the possibility of introducing national sanctions in case the EU fails to extends its own sanctions in the summer.

Vilnius wants other EU member states bordering Russia and Belarus to follow suit, so that goods from these countries cannot enter the EU by land, thereby increasing trade costs.

The EU sanctions are extended by common agreement, but this time there are fears of a possible Hungarian veto.

The Foreign Ministry's bills states that the government could impose two types of sanctions: asset freezes and sectoral restrictions. In both cases, the lists of sanctioned persons and companies would be established by the government.

The EU has adopted 17 sanctions packages against Russia since February 24, 2022, when Moscow launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions target both specific individuals and the Kremlin's economic sectors and companies.

According to Budrys, the EU will soon start working on the 18th sanction package: "Lithuania's contribution here is already significant, it will continue to be significant, and we will invite countries to do so because we see that it is working".