The blockade of the Polish-Lithuanian border planned by Polish farmers looks like a Russian attempt to pit Ukraine’s two biggest supporters against each other, says Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Szimonyte.
The head of the government assessed that the arguments according to which Ukrainian grain intended for transit to third countries through Lithuania’s Klaipėda allegedly changes its destination in Lithuania and is imported and then sent back to Poland or is turned into flour look like a hybrid operation, she said on Thursday. BNS agency.
The attempt to claim that Lithuania is somehow being used in some kind of “grain carousel” looks like the Kremlin’s attempt to pit Ukraine’s two biggest supporters against each other, said the Prime Minister.
Szimonyte emphasized that similar statements had been made before, e.g. that Ukrainian refugees received more support than residents of some countries.
Third countries are taking advantage of agricultural protests
– I would say that the protest itself has more to do with the political cycle (European elections), but false information presented as arguments makes us assume that third countries are taking advantage of this situation – noted the Prime Minister.
She pointed out that farmers’ protests in EU countries are actively discussed by Russian propagandists.
The Prime Minister announced that customs data shows that last year Lithuania imported approximately 100,000. tons of Ukrainian grain. This is very little compared to our own Lithuanian production, she added.
Szimonyte said that the planned traffic blockade at the border is the subject of talks not only with the Polish authorities, but also with EU institutions and the protesters themselves.
The Polish ambassador to Lithuania, Konstanty Radziwiłł, stated on Thursday that the protesting Polish farmers should not be accused of submitting to Russian influence. He admitted, however, that farmers in Poland had reasons to be dissatisfied.
Polish farmers announced a demonstration at the border on March 1. The decision to take action is justified by the so-called the “grain carousel” system, which means that Ukrainian grain enters the Lublin or Podkarpackie Voivodeship as a transit through Poland, then goes to Lithuania, and after crossing the border, this transport is no longer tracked by the Polish services. Then the truck with grain returns to the border and changes the documents, and the cargo becomes EU goods that can freely enter Poland.
The chairman of the Lithuanian Grain Producers Association, Auszrys Macijauskas, stated that Lithuanian farmers will not join the announced protest of Polish farmers.
