G. Landsbergis: By banning imports from Lithuania, Belarus imposed sanctions on itself

“They decided to give up the products that they probably need the most. In fact, those quantities from Lithuania are not very large of products made in Lithuania, but their prices will still rise, those products will be even less,” he asserted.

According to G. Landsbergis, this decision will force that part of the Lithuanian business, which exported its products to Belarus, to direct them elsewhere.

“For our economy, even though it is small, it is a means of promoting diversification. In other words, we will direct even those small groups of goods that used to reach Belarus elsewhere,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs told BNS.

According to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Seimas, Žygimantas Pavilionis, this decision of Belarus will affect the Russian market as well, because it is through this country that sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia were often circumvented.

“Belarus was a place through which Russia bypasses sanctions. We ourselves have repeatedly raised the need to tighten sanctions on Belarus so that Russia could not circumvent those sanctions,” the parliamentarian asserted.

“But what does Belarus itself seek by trying to isolate itself?” I think it is to divide the same West so that it does not make decisions that can be even more painful for it,” he reflected.

Belarus announced on Thursday that it was suspending the import of various goods from Lithuania, in response to the fact that its neighbor closed two more border checkpoints.

At the beginning of this month, citing security reasons, Lithuania closed the Lavoriškii and Raigard border points, and last summer – the Šumsk and Tverečius border points. At the moment, only the Medininkai and Šalčininkai checkpoints operate on the Lithuanian border with Belarus.

Minsk said on Thursday that the new import ban applies to a wide range of goods, including food and alcohol, clothing, household appliances, auto parts and construction equipment.