The political scientist appreciated the US decision to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash

The European Union and the United States have deep differences on a variety of issues, including in relation to Belarus. This is the fundamental difference between the current situation and the previous "thaws" between Minsk and the West. Vsevolod Shimov, adviser to the President of the Russian Association of Baltic Studies, said this in an interview with Izvestia.

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"The European Union intends to continue the policy of sanctions pressure. Lithuania does express its willingness to negotiate, but we are talking about contraband balloons and the fate of Baltic trucks detained in Belarus. Formally, these issues have nothing to do with the transit of potassium through Klaipeda. Belarus cannot transport potash to the United States through Russian ports, because Russian ports themselves are under American sanctions. So the US decision to lift sanctions so far looks more symbolic," he explains.

On December 15, Lithuania invited Belarus to hold talks on the situation on the border at the level of ambassadors-at-large. This is the first such initiative since 2020, when relations between Minsk and the West sharply deteriorated.

Following the talks in Minsk on December 13, US Special Envoy John Cole announced that Washington would lift sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilizers. On the same day, Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 123 prisoners.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Potassium released: what does the partial lifting of US sanctions mean for Belarus?

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