According to ELTA, with the United States (U.S.) lifting sanctions against two Belarusian banks, the Ministry of Finance, and the country’s potash fertiliser companies—including Belaruskalij, liberal leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen asserts that this is bad news for Lithuania and the entire region. However, she notes that this should in no way alter Lithuania’s or the European Union’s (EU) position or the pressure being exerted on Russia and Belarus, against whom sanctions were recently extended for another year.
“From a strategic perspective, this is bad news for us, for the countries in our region, and for NATO’s entire Eastern flank,” Čmilytė-Nielsen said on Žinių Radijas on March 20.
“It is clear that the U.S. is pursuing its own bilateral track with Belarus and the Lukashenko regime—they are talking, and have secured the release of political prisoners. That said, should this influence Lithuania’s position, especially regarding sanctions? I believe absolutely not. We have European decisions, and we are adhering to them. A decision was recently made to extend the sanctions for another year. It is in the strategic interest of Lithuania and the entire EU not to provide financial support or give any breathing room to either Putin’s or Lukashenko’s regime,” explained the chairwoman of the Liberal Movement party.
According to her, the decision made by the Americans—announced this week by John Coale, the U.S. envoy to Belarus, who was visiting Vilnius—is a helping hand to both the regimes of Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, which are closely intertwined.
“The U.S. decisions at this time certainly ease the situation and extend a helping hand to the Putin regime’s economy, which was already on the brink. This was evident from many direct and indirect indicators. Now, due to the war in the Middle East, the surge in oil prices, and other factors, the situation for Putin’s regime, which is directly linked to Lukashenko’s regime, has improved,” asserted Čmilytė-Nielsen.
She does not rule out that the U.S. decision to lift sanctions on the aforementioned institutions and companies may be an attempt to draw Belarus closer to the West’s sphere of influence. However, she emphasises that she believes Lukashenko is completely dependent on Russia, and there are simply no indications that anything has suddenly changed.
“I think that this may indeed be an attempt to send a signal, but Lithuanian intelligence services recently presented their annual national threat assessment, which detailed that Lukashenko’s regime is completely dependent and does not pursue its own independent policy. Yes, there is certainly some flirting with the West and the U.S., but we’ve seen this many times before. There is absolutely no basis for believing that anything has changed now,” said the parliamentarian.
“I believe that Lukashenko is trading political prisoners in exchange for things that are crucial to the survival of his regime. Now Putin’s money will be saved, because there will be no need to support Belarus, which now has its own capabilities,” the politician concluded.
Belarus’ state news agency Belta reported that the U.S. is lifting sanctions against the Belarusian bank Belinvestbank and the Development Bank, as well as the country’s Ministry of Finance and fertiliser companies—the Belarusian Potash Company and Belaruskalij.
This was reported by U.S. Special Envoy Coale, who met with the Belarusian president.
Following the meeting, the release of 15–20 political prisoners in Belarus was also announced.
According to the office of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, 15 political prisoners will arrive in Vilnius.
Before travelling to Belarus, the U.S. special envoy also visited Vilnius and met with Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė—after the meeting, the head of government stated that it would have a positive impact on Lithuania.
She also later said that discussions with the Americans regarding the resumption of the transit of Belarusian potash fertilisers through Lithuania are not currently taking place at any level, and therefore urged that this issue not be escalated.
However, it also emerged on Thursday that Coale, who is visiting Lithuania, met not only with the prime minister but also with Seimas members Ignas Vėgėlė and Rimas Jonas Jankūnas, as well as MEP Petras Gražulis; the news portal Lrt.lt was the first to report this.
The politicians later confirmed the meeting but declined to comment further.
ELTA notes that last December, the U.S. Special Envoy stated that discussions regarding sanctions on Belarusian fertilisers would continue.
The administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilisers in 2021, one year after the Belarusian presidential election, which Alexander Lukashenko illegally won.
In 2022, the European Union (EU) also imposed sanctions on Belarusian fertilisers.
At that time, the Lithuanian state-owned company Lietuvos Geležinkeliai terminated the contract for the transit of fertiliser in accordance with a 2022 government decision stating that Belaruskalij poses a threat to national security. Until then, transit was supposed to continue until the end of 2023.
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