Budrys denies US pressure to reopen Klaipėda port for potash exports

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has denied reports that the United States is pressuring Lithuania to allow Belarusian potash exports through Klaipėda port, LRT reported.

“I can assure you and say responsibly that nothing of the sort is happening at the moment,” Budrys told Žinių radijas on Thursday.

His denial followed a report by Politico, which cited four European officials as saying that US special envoy to Belarus John Coale had recently asked Lithuanian diplomats about easing restrictions on goods from Belarus. Two Eastern European officials told the publication that Coale had been pressing Lithuanian authorities at various levels for more than a year, since his first visit to Minsk.

Budrys said he was disappointed by the report, saying Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry had clarified the information for Politico several times. He also said Coale had not raised the transit of Belarusian fertiliser during their meetings.

In September, US President Donald Trump said he was working on a “big deal” with Minsk to buy potash at a much lower price than farmers currently pay Canadian companies. Transporting the fertiliser would require access to Klaipėda or other ports in the region. One Eastern European official told Politico that the United States had long explored whether Belarusian potash could reach global markets through Klaipėda and other Baltic Sea ports, including Riga, a route described as simpler than transport through Russia. A European official said Coale had also contacted counterparts in Latvia.

The European Union has sanctions on Belarusian fertiliser, and Lithuanian officials say the restrictions also cover transit. Such shipments through Klaipėda were halted in early 2022. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius has also denied reports of pressure from Washington, while the president’s office called the Politico report outdated.