Baltic States – CIS, Latvia, Legislation, Lithuania, Port, Transport

''If we see respectful attitude that we deserve on the part of our partners in Lithuania and Latvia, we will give them money (by transshipping our cargo and creating jobs); if they appreciate it, we will be ready to cooperate with them. We do not have any stereotyped policies towards them. We really do not. We will proceed from the foreign and domestic policy of Lithuania and Latvia towards Belarus,'' Lukashenko said.

At the same time, the Belarus president said that he is confident Lithuania will not choose to break partner relations with Belarus.

''About 30% of Lithuania’s budget is generated by Belarus. As I was informed, in 2015 or even earlier, the European Union will not subsidize Lithuania anymore like it is doing now. Lithuania will face even bigger issues,'' Lukashenko said.

The Belarus president reminded about the transit of Belarusian cargo through Lithuania: ''We transship up to 10 million tons of goods to their ports. The ports survive on our products. It is true that we told our Lithuanian partners that we are considering other options, too. As soon as we come to agreement with ports in Russia and on rates with Ukraine, we will not put all our eggs in one basket,'' the Belarus strongman added.

As reported, this past November, the Belarus opposition news portal Charter 97 reported that Belarus intends to transfer a large portion of export cargo traffic from Baltic to Russian ports.

''I will not conceal it, we discussed this issue very seriously at our latest meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,'' Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the time.