Lithuanian prime minister warns against debating Belarusian fertiliser transit

Lithuania’s Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė has warned that public debate over resuming transit of Belarusian fertilisers risks undermining national interests, even though Vilnius has not received any request from Washington to lift sanctions.

Speaking to the news portal lrytas, Ruginienė said Lithuania should avoid escalating discussions on the issue, which has not been raised by the United States.

“I see the risk in the fact that we often harm ourselves,” she told the outlet. “We often blame Americans, Belarusians or someone else, yet we ourselves raise and escalate topics that have not even been broached. We invite certain actions upon ourselves. No one has asked us to discuss fertiliser transit.”

Ruginienė argued that Lithuania and other EU states must maintain a firm stance on sanctions against Belarus or risk undermining the bloc’s cohesion. “When we ourselves lack confidence and begin to doubt our own actions, others and our strategic partners will doubt them too,” she said. “Before blaming anyone else, we should first draw conclusions within ourselves, be more resolute and show backbone.”

She reiterated that Vilnius has not received any request from Washington to lift sanctions on Belarusian fertiliser producer Belaruskalij, and said the topic was raised prematurely after a meeting with U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale.

“I can guarantee that no such request was made to me, nor was the topic even raised,” she said. “Yet, driven by various fears or doubts, we ourselves began discussing fertiliser transit and imagined requests. Just as then, this topic has not been raised in any discussions now. This leads me to conclude that there are certain bilateral agreements, and their scope may be broader than we realise.”

Last week, the U.S. announced it would lift sanctions on several Belarusian entities, including the state-owned Belinvestbank, Development Bank, the Ministry of Finance, and fertiliser companies Belaruskalij and the Belarusian Potash Company. The decision was announced by U.S. Special Envoy Coale during talks in Minsk.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has stated that the U.S. decision should not be linked to EU sanctions policy, while Prime Minister’s Adviser Ignas Dobrovolskas said the American moves are a matter of U.S. national policy and Lithuania’s position on sanctions remains unchanged.

In December 2024, the U.S. envoy said discussions on sanctions against Belarusian potash fertilisers would continue. The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilisers in 2021, a year after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election. The EU followed with its own sanctions in 2022. Lithuania’s state-owned railway company Lietuvos geležinkeliai subsequently terminated its fertiliser transit contract in line with a 2022 government decision citing national security concerns.