Lithuania faces no US pressure over Belarusian fertiliser transit, says president

Lithuania is not experiencing pressure from the United States to allow the transit of Belarusian fertilisers through its territory, President Gitanas Nausėda stated on Friday during a visit to the Padvarionys border checkpoint.

“There is no pressure whatsoever,” Nausėda told reporters, responding to claims made by Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys in a closed-door meeting with the Social Democratic parliamentary group on Wednesday. According to anonymous sources present at the meeting, Budrys had acknowledged ongoing US pressure on Lithuania and other regional states to permit the transit of Belarusian fertilisers.

Budrys declined to confirm his remarks when questioned by journalists on Thursday but noted “additional US engagement” on the issue. “We do exchange information with our American partners from time to time. They also share their perspective on Belarus,” Nausėda said. “Discussions are taking place, but the answer is very clear: the closest—well, not 12 months now, but nine months—we have had, and continue to have, extended EU sanctions in effect.”

The president emphasised that since the restrictions are EU-wide, not national, Lithuania lacks the authority to unilaterally alter them. “Do we want to change them? I believe we have ample evidence that the Belarusian regime has not changed its nature and continues to actively support Russia. Therefore, in all discussions—if they were to arise after these nine months in Europe, and if the situation remains unchanged—I would advocate for extending these sanctions,” he added.

Nausėda acknowledged, however, that the Belarusian regime still has a “very small” chance to demonstrate a shift toward normalised relations and distance itself from Russia. “I would not rule out that possibility entirely, and we remain ready to work closely with our American partners to address these issues,” he said.

Lithuania halted the transit of Belarusian potash fertilisers in February 2022 after the US imposed sanctions on Belarus’s largest fertiliser producer, Belaruskali, in 2021 over human rights violations, repression of civil society, and disputed presidential elections. Although the US lifted these sanctions earlier this year following the release of some political prisoners by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, Lithuania has maintained its transit restrictions, as the EU later introduced its own measures.