Lithuanian president: Transporting grain from Ukraine through Belarus is conflicting with EU sanctions against Minsk
Ukrainian grain cannot be transported to the Baltic ports via Belarus
Delfi reports, citing Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
According to the President, Aleksandr Lukashenko has clearly supported Russia's military aggression, so transporting goods through this country is out of the question.
"In my opinion, the situation has only worsened recently, and Lukashenko has shown that he's in the same boat with putin in this vile aggression. My opinion and assessment don't change; we must look for other alternatives," Nauseda said.
"Let's have a look at Ukraine's position first. They want to say that we need to streamline all the infrastructure. We need to streamline traffic so that fertilizers move from Ukraine through Belarus to the Baltic states.
Will it not happen that military equipment will move in the opposite direction behind this well-established infrastructure at some stage of the war? They should be cautious in assessing such a prospect," he said.
He added that he didn't see the possibility of resuming the transit of Belarusian fertilizers through Lithuania; Lukashenko put forward such a condition for the transportation of Ukrainian grain through Belarus.
"The European Union has imposed very clear sanctions on fertilizers, Lithuania has repeated these sanctions; what then? Let's close our eyes.
Let's say that Lukashenko suddenly became a much more acceptable leader or did something good, so we should lift these sanctions?" Nauseda said.
We should note that grain and other products from Ukraine are currently delivered to Klaipeda via Poland.
As reported by Rubryka, last Friday, Lukashenko and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed the transit of Ukrainian grain to Baltic ports, but Minsk insists on Belarusian exports.
President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine could not consider exporting the harvest by rail through Belarus to ports on the Baltic Sea.
He also mentioned the conditions under which Ukraine is ready to open its ports on the Black Sea for the "grain corridor."
