Lithuania’s top diplomat: fertilizer sanctions hard to enforce

May 10, BPN. No new sanctions on Belarusian fertilizers will not be introduced soon as the European Union member states remain divided on the issue, said the Lithuanian foreign minister.

Enforcing sanctions will remain complicated as restrictions target companies rather than specific groups of goods, Delfi reported citing Gabrielius Landsbergis.

Currently, proof is needed to connect intermediaries to sanctioned beneficiaries, he noted.

Fertilizers remain “one of the most sensitive” topics in talks with Lithuania’s European partners, Landsbergis said noting pressure to lift the current sanctions.

On May 4, Lithuania’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomėnas urged developing countries to reduce their dependence on Belarusian and Russian fertilizers and develop alternative production.

The EU, as one of the largest providers of support, can effectively combine instruments of external action and help partner countries strengthen their food security, he said.

Sanctions against Belarusian potash were imposed as part of a sectoral package in 2021 over allegations of human rights abuses.

Last winter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU might impose new sanctions on Alaksandr Łukašenka’s regime for its support of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The EU then hit Russia with the 10th sanctions package, which didn’t mention Belarus.

The Baltic states and Poland continue to oppose milder sanctions as suggested by some EU members. In March, Poland suggested that the bloc should immediately sanction Minsk in response to harsh sentences imposed on prominent human rights defender Aleś Bialacki and other activists.

The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, later said that the union “stands ready to respond with further sanctions” to the expected deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus.