Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said he will propose that the European Union ban the transit of Russian food grain through the bloc and impose sanctions on individual Russian agribusiness figures who, in his view, support the war against Ukraine.
The head of the Lithuanian government wrote this on Facebook on Thursday. According to him, Russia is using the ports and infrastructure of EU countries, including the Baltic states, to export its grain, while EU sanctions still do not cover food products.
“This is an unacceptable situation that has so far been tolerated on the grounds that EU sanctions do not apply to food. Decisions are also needed at the EU level. Lithuania will propose not only banning such transit but also adding individual oligarchs from the Russian agricultural sector who support the war to the sanctions list,” Sinkevičius wrote.
The prime minister stressed that Moscow is using European infrastructure while striking Ukrainian ports and grain ships and, Vilnius says, selling grain from occupied Ukrainian territories on the world market. “We will not allow the Russian war machine to profit by using our infrastructure as a gateway to global markets,” he said.
Sinkevičius called the transit of Russian grain a shared problem for the Baltic states and said Lithuania and Latvia hold the same position. Since October 1, Estonia has already banned the transit of Russian- and Belarusian-origin grain through its territory. Latvia, for its part, is calling for closer coordination of border controls and inspections of such cargoes.
The prime minister’s statement did not name the specific businessmen Lithuania intends to propose for the EU sanctions list.
