Tusk calls for EU sanctions on Russian and Belarusian food imports

VILNIUS  - The European Union (EU) should take joint decisions on banning Russian and Belarusian grain imports, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Vilnius on Monday.

"I am convinced that a joint European decision will be much more effective than decisions taken by individual countries," he told a press conference. "I would like us, as the EU, to jointly make decisions on sanctions against Russian and Belarusian agricultural products."

Tusk said he will ask the speaker of the Sejm, Poland's lower house of parliament, to initiate a decision on sanctions against agricultural produce from the two countries.

"Today I will address the marshal of the Polish Sejm regarding the Polish Sejm's decision on the application of sanctions on Russian (...) and Belarusian agricultural production," he said.

The prime minister said that the tightening of sanctions is important not only because of the war in Ukraine, but also for the security of the agricultural market of Poland and Europe as a whole.

"These markets are feeling a lot of pressure because of the war, and there is no doubt that one of the main tasks is blocking the possibility of exports from Russia and Belarus to third countries which have traditionally been the recipients of those agricultural products," he said.