Kęstutis Budris
This was announced by the Baltic country’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys on the margins of the Munich Security Conference.
According to the Lithuanian diplomat, the EU has many reasons to keep the sanctions: “I am optimistic about the extension of the EU sanctions against Belarus for another 12 months. This is the right decision, because we should remember the reasons why they were imposed,” he emphasized.
What the sanctions provide for
The EU adopted the latest package of sanctions on June 29, 2025. “The close integration of the Russian and Belarusian economies has made it easier to circumvent the existing sanctions against Russia,” euneighbourseast.eu cited a press release from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) at the time. – The new package of sanctions against Belarus mirrors some of the measures already imposed against Russia. So it will make the EU sanctions more effective”.
The measures affect various sectors of the Belarusian economy, including trade, services and transportation. The EU has extended restrictions on exports of dual-use goods and advanced technologies, as well as introduced new ones on goods that can contribute to strengthening the Belarusian industrial potential.
The ban was imposed on marine navigation equipment, oil refining technologies, and some luxury goods – imports of gold, diamonds, and goods that allow Belarus to diversify its sources of income.
Discussions on Lithuania’s policy towards Minsk
Earlier, the head of the Lithuanian diplomacy said that Lithuania’s position on the extension and tightening of sanctions against Belarus remains unchanged. At the same time, he emphasized that the discussions in his country about the Lithuanian policy in relation to Minsk did not mean its revision.
At the same time, the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (SDPL) Mindaugas Sinkevičius, quoted by lt.sputniknews, said: the ban on the transportation of Belarusian fertilizers through Klaipeda led to the fact that their exports are carried out through Russian ports, and the income is now received by Russia.
Seimas deputy and leader of the ruling coalition party Zarya Nyamunas Remigijus Zhemaitaitis also believes that the Lithuanian authorities should allow the transit of Belarusian fertilizers through their territory. He emphasized that his proposal was based “solely on economic logic.
Sanctions against Belarusian potash
Under the administration of President Joe Biden, the United States imposed restrictions on Belaruskali, the largest Belarusian producer of potash fertilizers, in August 2021.
February 1, 2022, the Lithuanian government terminated the contract for the transit of chlorine potash through the port of Klaipeda amid Washington’s sanctions. Traditionally, almost all exports – up to 11 million tons per year – were made there. Therefore, Belarus started exporting fertilizer through Russian ports and to China by rail.
Late last year, U.S. Special Envoy to Belarus John Cole said that Washington was lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash. He noted that as relations between the two countries normalize, “more and more sanctions will be lifted.”
