Logging. File photoMOSCOW, June 8Lithuania is experiencing a shortage of wood, caused by the suspension of imports from Russia and Belarus due to sanctions, said Deputy Environment Minister Danas Augutis. His words are quoted by ELTA.
"Lithuania imported wood from both Belarus and Russia. Now this import has stopped and in fact, in the conditions of Lithuania, we have a shortage of wood", he said.
According to him, the Ministry of the Environment is going to change the rules for exporting timber to fix the amount of raw material that can be exported to other EU countries, since Lithuania remains the last country in the region where this resource can be bought by «anyone» — neighboring Latvia and Estonia have closed their markets. As Raimundas Beinortas, head of the Lithuanian Timber Association, noted, the changes proposed by the department will not have a significant impact on the situation.The President of Lithuania opposed the export of Ukrainian grain through Belarus «Such changes are not enough, the company expressed its comments and regrets about them <…> It's all good if the price of wood rises or falls for objective reasons. often called by speculators,» he complained. According to the data of the General Director of the State Forestry Valdas Kaubre, which the publication cites, a couple of years ago, the price of wood fell to a record low, and a year later it began to grow: in 2021, the price of wood raw materials increased by 40 percent, and about a fifth of this. The West has imposed several packages of sanctions against Russia because of the situation in Ukraine. The restrictions also affected Belarus, which supported the Russian special operation. Prior to this, the United States and Europe had gradually imposed sanctions against Belarusian officials and businesses, accusing Minsk of violations during the presidential elections in 2020 and violation of human rights. President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and sanctions dealt a severe blow to the global economy. According to him, the main goal of the United States and Europe is to worsen the lives of millions of people.