Two ministers or the entire government could resign over Belaruskali bypassing the sanctions in Lithuania. The Norwegian foreign minister recently spoke with Tsikhanouskaya. They agreed about the import of Belaruskali products. Now there is a scandal in Estonia.
Eesti Päevaleht reported on December 14 that Alyaksandr Lukashenka‘s regime was still able to freely trade oil products and other goods through the Estonian ports, despite the sanctions, while the turnover reached a record high (in the ten months of 2021, the transit of goods was worth half a billion euros). Most of the cargo flow is provided by the Estonian state company Operail.
Press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Kristina Ots commented on the news on December 16:
“Right now, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no reason to believe that an Estonian state-owned company or competent institutions have violated the established sanctions. If restrictions become more precise or change, their implementation should be certainly reconsidered,” the Estonian National Broadcasting Company reported the words of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman.
According to Ots, Estonia adopts the sanctions of the UN, the European Union, and its sanctions against Belarus and restrictions against individuals and legal entities, and sectoral sanctions. She assures that the carriers of goods are tested for compliance with sanctions lists and revealed no violations.
The representative of the Foreign Ministry adds that the EU sanctions do not apply to agreements signed before June 25, 2021, while in compliance with the restrictions, “it is important to monitor whether products and groups of products are listed in the addendum to the EU decision as permitted goods, as well as to check the product codes.”
In an interview with Eesti Päevaleht on Wednesday, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas refrained from assessing the transit of goods from Belarus through Estonia, noting that it does not violate sanctions.
