Belarus threatens the resignation of the next Baltic government
The Lithuanian government has decided not to resign because of the scandal with the transit of Belaruskali products through its ports.
Let us remind you that Lithuanian Railways accepted prepayment for the transportation of Belarusian goods. Upon learning of this, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis threatened to slam the door. He was outraged that Lithuania did not join the American sanctions against Belarus, although they were not binding on it.
Lithuanian Transport Minister Marius Skuodis also announced his readiness to resign. Although for the industry he heads, refusing Belarusian transit is suicidal. After the cessation of gasoline transportation from Belarus, it was necessary to stop the program to modernize the railway by 60 million euros and raise tariffs by 30%. In addition, the port of Klaipeda is losing a quarter of its revenue.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte admitted that because of a quarrel between two ministers, her entire cabinet would have to resign. But therefore they decided to make do with little bloodshed by appointing a switchman: the head of Lithuanian Railways, Mantas Bartuska, is resigning.
And the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport has prepared a draft of sanctions against Belarus, similar to American restrictions. In addition, a bill is being prepared to ban the transit of any products of Belarusian origin through the territory of Lithuania. This will complicate life not only for Belarus, but also for the Kaliningrad region.
The reaction from overseas followed immediately. Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin called Lithuania a “beacon of democracy” and promised to allocate a new batch of weapons.
Belarusian political scientist Alexander Shpakovsky spoke sharply against Gabrielius Landsbergis, who, in fact, achieved the introduction of sanctions that would kill his country’s economy.
“From the point of view of common sense, such a minister should not only resign - he should shoot himself in his office. It belongs in the dustbin of history,” Shpakovsky said.
“Lithuanian railways are already on the verge of bankruptcy, the idle Klaipeda port is beginning to rust. In the coming years, a promising niche for doing business will open in Lithuania, which will be scrap metal collection points where rails and equipment will be taken from the port. Former employees of LZD and Klaipeda port will be forced to look for work in other countries. Lithuania will continue to empty out and grow old,” Belarusian public figure Andrei Sych wrote in his Telegram channel.
TV journalist Igor Tur prophesies new problems for Lithuania.
“As long as you sponsor Tikhanovskaya, Belarus, Russia, and even China and Turkey will put pressure on you,” he wrote.
As for Belarusian potash fertilizers, they will continue to flow to Europe, which is very interested in them. In particular, the Norwegian company Yara, which was personally persuaded by the self-proclaimed “leader of the Belarusian nation” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, never terminated the contract. But Belarus supplies much larger volumes of potassium chloride to India and China. The annual turnover of Belaruskali is $2,2 billion.
Back in the spring, Russian Railways announced its readiness to transport 12 million tons of Belarusian fertilizers to Russian ports. Previously, an agreement was concluded on the transfer of Belarusian oil products to Russian ports.
However, in reality they did not go to Ust-Luga and Murmansk at all, but to Estonia. As Eesti Paevaleht reports, this year Belarus exported petroleum products through Estonian ports for a record amount - more than half a billion euros. These are mainly heavy oil products, such as fuel oil, and account for 4/5 of exports. Now a government crisis is brewing in Estonia too.
“In a brave new world where the economy is shaped by politics, this record increase in income for the Port of Tallinn and the Estonian Railway is a scandal. More precisely, even several scandals. The scandal has already begun inside Estonia. Estonian media come out with headlines like “Sanctions? No, we haven’t,” “Estonia pays for Lukashenko’s crimes” and “Estonia supports Lukashenko’s regime.”
If the scheme of cunning carriers is not immediately shut down, then this internal scandal will be followed by a scandal in relations with Lithuania. Tallinn is unlikely to come to this, because in the dispute about whether it is possible to make money with Lukashenko, Estonia will not be alone in Lithuania. The attitude of the European Union towards cooperation with Minsk today is quite unambiguous,” writes RuBaltic.Ru editor-in-chief Alexander Nosovich.
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