Statement by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry in connection with the illegal decision of the Government of Lithuania on termination of the transit of potash fertilizers

The illegal decision of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania to terminate the transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers flagrantly violates norms of the law, direct bilateral and multilateral obligations of the Lithuanian side.

Among them are the Agreement dated April 3, 2000 on the conditions for the transit of goods of the Republic of Belarus with use of ports and other transport infrastructure of the Republic of Lithuania, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was ratified by the EU, Minsk and Vilnius. These documents legally oblige Lithuania to grant Belarus the right of transit as a landlocked country. 

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) has confirmed that the sanctions against JSC Belaruskali are not binding on the state enterprise “Lithuanian Railways”. Thus, this decision is initiated by the still operating Government of Lithuania on its own.

In such circumstances, this step is an element of hybrid aggression against neighboring Belarus, aimed at causing direct economic damage to the well-being of the Belarusian people.

Guided by the principles of good neighborliness and unwillingness to cause damage to the long-suffering Lithuanian people, the Republic of Belarus refrained from harsh retaliatory measures in connection with the consistent hostile actions of the reckless Lithuanian leadership.

The Belarusian side has repeatedly offered consultations to resolve the issue in the legal field. On January 18 and 28, 2022, the corresponding proposals were sent to the Lithuanian side by the senior management of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Belarus. We also proposed a dialogue at the level of heads of governments.

Official Vilnius refused our proposals, pursuing the goal of inflicting maximum damage on Belarusians at the expense of Lithuanian taxpayers. In the context of modern rules of international trade, this is a cave wildness. With this step, the Government of Lithuania once again proved to the whole world to be uncivilized and unreliable as a trading partner in addition to a number of its other deeds.

The Republic of Belarus cannot ignore this hybrid attack and is forced, as warned in advance, to take retaliatory measures.

We have adopted a decision to ban the transit through our territory by rail transport of oil products, chemical and mineral fertilizers loaded at the stations of the “Lithuanian Railways”. 

About 1.5-1.6 million tons of such cargoes are transported through the territory of the Republic of Belarus in the amount of more than 1 billion US dollars annually.

We draw attention that in order to comply with international rules, the Republic of Belarus informs all interested parties 4 days prior to the entry of this decision into force. The so-called conventional prohibition will be announced by the Directorate of the Council for rail transport of the CIS member states at the initiative of the Belarusian side and will enter into force on February 7, 2022.

Direct losses of the port of Klaipeda, JSC "Lithuanian Railways" and other participants in the Lithuanian supply chain will be counted for a long time, but it is already clear that they amount to hundreds of millions of euros. Multimillion losses are also expected based on lawsuits that have already been brought against Lithuania, and due to penalties. Belarus reserves the right to take further economic actions, including jointly with its partners, as a result of which the Lithuanian transit infrastructure may go to scrap.

It is sincerely unfortunate, that thousands of employees of the “Lithuanian Railways”, business representatives and ordinary Lithuanians will bear serious costs. History has shown that Belarus has always been and will be on your side and puppet politicians will not be able to completely cut off our cultural, historical and business ties. In the current situation, you can count on our understanding. However, all complaints must be addressed to the political elite that has grip on power in Lithuania today.

The Belarusian side remains open to dialogue and is always ready to listen to the proposals of official Vilnius on resolving all issues in the legal field, primarily in the interests of ordinary Belarusians and Lithuanians.

For its part, the Government of Belarus has developed all necessary logistics solutions to reorient all its cargo flows, not only fertilizers, to the seaports of states that fulfill their obligations and are reliable partners for our country.

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