Stadler Rail that will make trains for Lithuanian leaving Belarus – minister

VILNIUS - Stadler Rail, a Swiss train maker that will produce 15 electric and battery-powered trains for Lithuania for more than 200 million euros, will not use any parts made at its factory in Minsk, Lithuanian Transport and Communications Minister Marius Skuodis says, adding that the Swiss company is already pulling out of Belarus and is no longer producing anything there.

"Not a single part produced (in Minsk - BNS) will be produced for our trains," Skuodis said during the Government Hour in the Seimas on Thursday. "Every transaction is assessed by the commission (the government Commission for Coordination of Protection of Objects of Importance to Ensuring National Security - BNS), and the deal for the purchase of the trains was allowed."

The Swiss company is already leaving Minsk, the minister said.

"As far as I know from general information, production is no longer taking place there, the company has withdrawn or is in the process of withdrawing," he said.

MP Algirdas Butkevicius earlier raised doubts about the winner of the passenger train tender launched by LTG Link, the passenger arm of Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), the country's state-owned railway company, as, he claimed, the Swiss group not only has a company in Minsk, but its CEO also has good relations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

LTG Link plans to buy 15 new electric and battery-powered trains from Stadler Rail's Polish subsidiary Stadler Polska for 226.5 million euros, under the contract signed in Vilnius on Wednesday.