Belarus bans merchandise transit for a group of goods by rail from Lithuania

It should be recalled that Lithuania had banned the transit of Belarusian goods via Lithuanian ports. Belarus had repeatedly suggested arranging consultations in order to address issues within the legal framework but Lithuania had not accepted the dialogue. “We’ve decided to prohibit transit shipments by rail of oil products, chemical and mineral fertilizers, which are transported from Lithuania and were loaded at stations of Lithuanian Railways. About 1.5-1.6 million tonnes of such cargoes worth over $1 billion is transported across the territory of the Republic of Belarus every year,” said Anatoly Glaz, the Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry regrets the fact that many thousands of Lithuanian Railways employees, representatives of the private sector, and ordinary Lithuanians will incur serious losses.