Lithuania found a way to terminate the contract with Belaruskali

The management of the Lithuanian Railways (LTG) has found an opportunity to terminate the contract with Belaruskali, the press service of the company reports.

According to the Lithuanian Railways, despite the fact that on October 21 last year, a supplemental agreement was concluded between LTG and Belaruskali according to which the parties switched to prepayment, the terms and conditions of the master agreement remained in force.

“The supplemental agreement signed in October does not cancel LTG’s right to suspend services to the Belarusian company”, said Kęstutis Šliužas, LTG’s chairman of the board. According to him, both parties can terminate the contract if the other party fails to fulfill its obligations. There is another possibility to terminate the contract – in this case, the other party must be warned thereof 12 months in advance, however, this may lead to LTG’s bankruptcy.

The supplemental agreement was adopted in order to avoid non-payment by Belaruskali. Previously, the company made payments within one month after the provision of the transportation service. “This change reduced the risks for the company”, notes LTG.

The contract between the Lithuanian Railways and Belaruskali was signed in 2018 and expires at the end of 2023.

As a reminder, on December 8, despite the US sanctions against Belaruskali that had come into force, the Lithuanian Railways continued to supply Belarusian fertilizers in the same volume, since the state company had already received an advance payment from the Belarusian party for cargo transportation until January 2022.

A scandal erupted in Lithuania. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Transport, as well as the CEO of the Lithuanian Railways, Mantas Bartuška, handed in their resignations. However, only the LTG CEO’s resignation letter was accepted.