EU banning imports of potassium chloride from Belarus via Russia

MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - The European Union is banning imports of potassium chloride from Belarus through Russia as part of the fifth package of sanctions against Russia.

Additional decisions to ban imports from Russia include "anti-circumvention measure against potash imports from Belarus," the European Commission said in a statement.

The EU imposed sectoral sanctions on Belarus in June 2021, including bans on trade and transit of certain types of potash fertilizers. The United States imposed sanctions on state-owned Belarusian potash fertilizer producer Belaruskali in August 2021.

The government of Lithuania terminated an agreement with Belaruskali in February of this year amid U.S. sanctions for the transit of potassium chloride through the Port of Klaipeda, where almost the entire yearly volume of Belarusian potassium chloride, 10-11 million tonnes, was traditionally transshipped.

In connection with the cessation of transit through Lithuania, Belarus began exporting potassium chloride through Russian ports, according to Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko.