Lithuania’s parliamentary Committees on National Security and Defense (CNSD) and on Economics is to look into the circumstances surrounding the ongoing transit of potash produced by Belarusian state-run company Belaruskali via Lithuania, despite U.S. sanctions having come into force against the producer on Dec. 8, according to a Baltic Times report this week, citing the CNSD Chairman Laurynas Kasciunas, speaking to the Baltic News Service (BNS).
According to the report, CNSD plans to hold a parliamentary control session in the second or third week of January, probably jointly with the Committee on Economics.
The key aim related to the potential suspension of potash transit is to answer “will the sanctions [on transit] be effective, will they achieve what they are intended to, or will they be circumvented, will somebody else gain from them, will there be other private companies that will continue transporting the potash, and will there be other E.U. Member States that might profit from that, and whether we will not have a situation where the Russian Federation is the winner in this case,” Kasciunas said, as cited by the report.
The imposition of sanctions can only come after those questions are answered, he said, adding that the probe likely will be followed by recommendations to individual government ministries.
Belarus rails most of its potash for export through Lithuania into the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda for onward shipment. Additional U.S. sanctions were imposed on Dec. 2 on Belarus Potash Co. (BPC), the Belarusian marketer/exporter of Belaruskali’s potash, which was not included on the initial U.S. sanctions list. They come into effect on April 1, 2022 (GM Dec. 3, 2021).
The Baltic Times report cited Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda as stating the crisis would be resolved by Jan. 31, and “the reputational damage to Lithuania would be eliminated.”
Two Lithuanian ministers – the Foreign Minister and the Transport Minister – had tendered their resignations following strong criticism that state-run railway Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (LTG) continued to transport Belarusian potash, despite the U.S. sanctions, but have remained in their posts. At one point in December it seemed the entire Lithuanian government was set to step down amid the furore over continued Belarusian potash transit (GM Dec. 10, 2021).
LTG earlier said it received advanced payments from Belaruskali through the end of February for the transportation of Belarus potash, and that the company lacked sufficient legal grounds to stop its transportation. The railway company’s CEO Mantas Bartuska agreed to step down in an attempt to “de-escalate” the outcry, and was set to leave after a transitional period (GM Dec. 17, 2021).
However, a Lithuanian government commission on Dec. 21 concluded that an agreement signed by LTG in 2018 to transport potash from sanctions-hit Belarus goes against national security interests (GM Dec. 31, 2021).
Lithuania’s Transport Ministry on Dec. 10 registered a proposed bill, which if passed, would allow Lithuania to prevent any transit of Belarus potash or fertilizer via its territory (GM Dec. 17, 2021; Dec. 10, 2021). The draft bill proposes a law introducing sanctions for goods directly or indirectly imported, bought, or transferred from Belarus, BNS has reported. This would include Belarusian potash.
The government commission’s Dec. 21 ruling looks likely to ease the bill’s passage – or even prompt a direct government directive – as, according to European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) analyst and former diplomat Pavel Slyunkin, cited in a Deutsche Welle (DW) report late last week, Lithuanian politicians are looking for an option to terminate the transit without damage and violation of the transit contract. Slyunkin said that option could be recognition of the contract with Belaruskali as one that threatens the country’s national security.
“On Dec. 21, the government commission made such a decision, and now the government has the last word – in this case, it would be the basis for stopping transit with minimal losses,” he said.