Three companies want to transport Belaruskali fertilizers via Lithuania

"Lithuanian Railways has received requests to transport Belaruskali fertilizers from three Belarusian companies. LR appealed to the Coordinating Commission for Protection of Facilities Important for National Security to clarify the possibility of such transactions.

One of the applications was filed by the Belarusian Potash Company. It contacted the Lithuanian Railways on January 24. BPC motivated its request for an agreement on the transportation of potash by the need to meet existing obligations for their sale from the port of Klaipeda.

Belintertrans and Belkali-Migao also claim to transport fertilizers through Lithuania.

"Lithuanian Railways is looking for legal grounds to reject the companies' applications and thus stop the transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers through Lithuania, the company said in the press release. Making such agreements is risky from the point of view of Lithuanian and international legal acts and multilateral agreements. After all, Belaruskali is under Western sanctions. "That's why we went to the government commission first," says Egidijus Lazauskas, general director of LR.

The transit of Belarusian fertilizers through Lithuania will be stopped as of February 1. Lithuanian authorities concluded that it is contrary to the country's national security. Belarus has repeatedly voiced plans to organize rail transport from Belaruskali to Russian ports. For now, however, the state is trying to bring back the Lithuanian direction.