The Government of Belarus imposes a ban on rail transit from Lithuania for a number of goods, including oil products, chemical and mineral fertilizers, loaded at the stations of the Lithuanian Railways.
As spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Anatoly Glaz said today, the ban will come into force on February 7. It will affect the supply chains of about 1.5-1.6 million tons of cargo worth more than 1 billion US dollars annually.
The decision is related to the ban on transit of potash fertilizers from Belarus. The Belarusian side emphasizes that this decision violates the rule of law, as well as bilateral and multilateral obligations of Lithuania.
Let us recall that the Lithuanian government has decided to annul the agreement between the Belarusian manufacturer Belaruskali and the state enterprise Lithuanian Railways (LZhD) on the transit of fertilizers through the port of Klaipeda as of February 1.
In response to Lithuania stopping the transit of fertilizers, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said last week that the Minsk regime could block the flow of Lithuanian goods through the country. According to him, Belarus can redirect its export flows from the ports of the Baltic countries to Russian ports.
