On 1 February 2022, Lithuanian Railways terminated the contract with Belaruskali JSC on transportation of Belaruskali cargo
Russia and Belarus are looking into redirecting transit of Belarus’ potassium fertilisers from the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda to Russian ports, Interfax cites Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson.
“The issue is no the agenda, it is under discussion but, if I am not mistaken, redirection of those flows have not started yet. But it is on the agenda”, he said at the briefing and forwarded further questions to the Ministry of Economic Development.
On 1 February 2022, Lithuanian Railways (Lietuvos gelezinkeliai, LTG) terminated the contract with Belaruskali JSC on transportation of Belaruskali cargo and said they would not transport Belarusian fertilizers for the clients if it is not approved by the Government Commission. The decision of the Lithuanian company should be attributed to the EU sanctions against Minsk.
On 1 February 2022, Belarus Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko confirmed rejection of Belarusian trains with potassium fertilisers bound for the port of Klaipeda. According to him, the flows of potassium chloride will then be redirected to Russian ports adding that Minsk had been preparing for this for a long time. In January, President Aleksandr Lukashenko warned Lithuania about counter measures as a response to blocking of cargo transit via the ports of Lithuania.
Recent years have seen annual loading of ships in Klaipeda seaport with some 10-11 million tonnes of fertilizers produced by Belaruskali.