Lithuania insists on the practical implementation of a mechanism for verifying the origin of grain in order to prevent the use of European Union ports, as well as EU transport infrastructure, for the transportation of Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Lithuania Rolandas Taraškevičius on the sidelines of the meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture in Luxembourg on Monday, 26 October, as reported by the correspondent of “European Truth”.
At the meeting of the EU Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on 26 October, the implementation of a mechanism for verifying the origin of grain to identify grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine is being discussed.
“We need more concrete and practical steps to implement a mechanism for verifying the origin of grain,” said Taraškevičius.
He reported that last week he had already discussed the practical application of this mechanism with representatives of the British Ministry of Environment, Food and Agriculture.
According to the official, work on implementing the mechanism is ongoing, and during today’s meeting he is to inform colleagues from EU countries about its progress.
At the same time, the Lithuanian official distinguished between the issue of transit of Russian grain in general and the transportation of grain stolen in the occupied Ukrainian territories.
He explained that the main task is to prevent the use of EU ports and logistics infrastructure to transport stolen grain.
As reported by “European Pravda”, Estonia plans to completely block the transit of Russian grain through its ports.
Earlier, it became known that Poland and Romania refused to help Ukraine with grain exports amid the export crisis associated with the blockade of the Black Sea.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the plenary session of the EU summit on 16 October, appealed to Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary to allow grain to be transported through their territory.
Ukraine is also considering the possibility of exporting agricultural products through the ports of the Baltic countries, but the high cost of logistics remains an obstacle.
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