VILNIUS – As Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), the country's state-owned railway company, is set to terminate its contract with Belaruskali from February 1, risks have been limited that the existing bans might be circumvented and the transit of Belarusian fertilizers will continue, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says.
"We saw from the very beginning those risks that certain amounts of fertilizers will be taken over, but the government used the provided time to root those risks out and prepare for that regime that starts on February 1. We do hope the majority of risks have been covered, the legal regime, and the contract termination provision itself sets a certain basis," Landsbergis told reporters at the parliament on Wednesday.
The parliamentary Committee on Economics and on National Security and Defense on Wednesday held a closed-door meeting to look into the circumstances of the ongoing transit of Belaruskali fertilizers via Lithuania. The committees sought to ensure that nobody circumvents the sanctions and profiteers from them after LTG and Belaruskali contract is terminated on February 1.
Laurynas Kasciunas, chairman of the CNSD, says the decision to terminate the contract as of February 1 has safeguards to make sure "it's not that easy to circumvent the Lithuanian decision to block (fertilizer transit – BNS)".
"When we said some time earlier that separate states, separate private companies could do that, so the made decisions, those formulas allow making a solid conclusion that the circumvention possibility is highly impossible," Kasciunas said.
It was the two committee's second sitting on the Belarusian fertilizer transit via Lithuania. The first one was held two weeks ago.
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