Russia continues to export grain through the Baltic States

Lithuania is concerned that Russian grain is transiting through Lithuania, and most of it is transported through Latvia.

“We have a very specific issue – the transportation of Russian grain through the Baltic states. In Lithuania, it is not a significant problem, the volumes are very small, but in Latvia it is still a big problem,” said Lithuanian Transport Minister Marius Skuodis.

According to him, this issue will be raised at an online meeting with Latvian Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens and Estonian Climate Minister Kristens Mihal.

In December, Agriculture Minister Kęstutis Navickas said that grain from the Russian Federation was being transported to Latvian ports, not to Klaipeda, Lithuania. However, he ruled out the possibility that the Russian grain could have been imported with fake documents about its origin.

Lithuanian farmers who held protests in January also spoke of suspicions that grain from Russia was entering the Lithuanian market through Latvia.

Earlier, Latvian Economy Minister Viktor Valainis supported a ban on grain imports from Russia at the European Union level to make sanctions against the aggressor country more effective.

Prior to that, Latvian Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens proposed to ban imports of Russian and Belarusian grain to the European Union.

In addition, Latvian Minister of Agriculture Armands Krause initiated discussions in the EU on a ban on imports of Russian agricultural products to the EU.

The President of Latvia supported the idea of restricting imports of Russian grain to the EU.

Tags: Russia, export, grain, Latvia, Lithuania