US officials have pressured Lithuania to allow exports of EU-sanctioned Belarusian potash fertilisers via the port of Klaipeda, Politico reports. European officials said that the US special envoy to Belarus, John Coale, has been lobbying Lithuanian authorities on all levels about the issue for more than a year. US officials have also raised the possibility of shipping Belarusian potash through Latvia’s port of Riga. However, Lithuanian political leaders have repeatedly rejected the possibility of resuming Belarusian transit shipments, LRT reports.
Earlier, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that no EU country could allow imports of Belarusian fertilisers, BNS reported. Meanwhile, Deividas Matulionis, national security adviser to President Gitanas Nauseda, assured that neither Lithuania nor other neighbouring countries would make concessions on the issue, LRT reported. He noted that any violation of EU sanctions would carry legal and financial consequences and would be a “moral humiliation.” Before the sanctions, 90% of Belarusian potash was exported through Klaipeda.