Lithuania: railways risk falling under US sanctions for transporting Belarusian cargo

Lithuania’s state-owned railway company Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (LTG) risks falling under US sanctions as it continues to transport Belarusian fertilizers, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has warned. She was commenting on LTG’s statement that it had received an official confirmation from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that Washington’s sanctions against Belaruskali, one…

Lithuania: US sanctions not binding on Lithuanian Railways

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has officially confirmed that Washington’s sanctions against Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest potash fertilizer producers and exporters, are not binding on Lithuania’s state-owned railways. Belaruskali, considered a lifeline for the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, exports a large share of its production via Lithuania. Lietuvos…

Lithuania: railway bridge contractor ruled threat to security due to Chinese ownership

A China-controlled Spanish firm that has won Lithuania’s tender to build a railway bridge over the Neris River poses a threat to national security, a government panel has decided. The bridge is part of the Rail Baltica European standard-gauge railway project implemented by Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG). “The commission has decided that LTG Infra’s…

Lithuania: transit of Belarusian goods to be banned in wake of Belaruskali debacle

Lithuania’s Transport Ministry has proposed a law introducing sanctions for goods directly or indirectly imported, bought, as well as transferred from Belarus. The bill would allow Lithuania preventing any transit of Belaruskali fertilizers via Lithuania’s territory, the ministry said. The proposal comes on the back of Lithuania’s failure to stop the transit of Belarusian fertilizers…