US Wants Ukraine and Europe to Ease Sanctions on Belarusian Potash, Saying It Would Pull Belarus Away From Russia

The US wants Ukraine and Europe to ease sanctions on Belarusian potash. The US believes this would help distance Belarus from Russia, Bloomberg.

Details.

▪️The US is pushing Ukraine to lift restrictions on imports of potash fertilizers from Belarus and is also asking Kyiv to raise this issue with the Europeans.

▪️Washington argues that lifting the restrictions would help distance Belarus from Russia and improve relations with Minsk.

▪️The US has already lifted sanctions on Belaruskali and other key enterprises in exchange for the release of political prisoners, but without Europe the effect is limited, since Belarus cannot use its traditional logistics routes through the Baltic Sea, which depend on Poland and Lithuania.

▪️At one of the closed-door meetings last week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys confirmed pressure from the US regarding potash transit.

▪️The office of Lithuania's president said it does not plan to change its position on the ban on potash transit because of national security considerations. Bloomberg sees no signs that the EU is preparing to ease sanctions against Belarus.