Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda in an interview with BNS agency
stated
a firm intention to defend the ban on transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers through Klaipėda port, despite possible pressure from the USA. According to the head of the Lithuanian state, any attempts to exchange sanction policy for political or military benefits are fundamentally unacceptable to him.

Павялічыць

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda

Commenting on Washington’s decision to lift sanctions on Belarusian fertilizers in exchange for the release of political prisoners, Nausėda stressed that Lithuania does not intend to make concessions on this issue.

“You know, for me, value-based policy is not an empty concept. Therefore, doing such actions [allowing transit] means trading values, which is absolutely unacceptable to me,” the Lithuanian president stated.

Nausėda noted that a “coalition of the determined” is currently being actively formed among neighboring countries. In particular, this issue was discussed with the prime ministers of Poland and Latvia, as well as with the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. According to the Lithuanian leader, Merz supports Vilnius’s position and understands the expediency of sanctions against the regime in Belarus.

Answering a question about the possibility of resuming transit in exchange for an increased American military contingent in Lithuania or directing transit profits to the defense budget, Nausėda was categorical. He called such considerations “unacceptable in principle,” adding that the EU sanctions regime against Belarus remains in force, and Brussels will decide on their extension already in February.