Lithuania faces no US pressure over Belarusian fertiliser transit, president says

VILNIUS - Lithuania is facing no pressure from the US over the transit of Belarusian fertilisers, President Gitanas Nauseda said on Friday.

"There is no pressure," the head of state told reporters during a visit to the Padvarionys border checkpoint.

The president’s remarks follow an admission by Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys during a closed-door meeting with the Social Democratic parliamentary group on Wednesday. According to sources, Budrys acknowledged there is pressure from the US side to allow the transit of Belarusian fertilisers through Lithuania, suggesting such pressure might also be applied to other countries in the region.

On Thursday, Budrys declined to confirm his statements made during the private meeting but said there was "additional activity" from the US regarding the fertiliser transit issue.

"Since these are European sanctions, not national ones, we could not change anything even if we wanted to. Do we want to change them? Well, I believe we have enough evidence showing that the Belarusian regime is not changing its nature and continues to actively assist Russia. Therefore, in any discussions that might arise in Europe after these nine months, if the situation remains unchanged, I would advocate for the extension of those sanctions," Nauseda said.

According to the president, the Belarusian regime’s behaviour remains unchanged and sanctions should continue, although he did not rule out a change in the situation in the future.

Lithuania suspended the transit of Belarusian potash fertilisers in 2022. Restrictions remain in place due to European Union sanctions imposed in response to human rights violations in Belarus and Minsk’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.