Polish Farmers to Block Border Crossing with Lithuania, Seeking Ukrainian Grain
Source: The DairyNews
This week, Polish farmers are gearing up for two new blockades: one at the border between Poland and Germany in the city of Swiecko, and another near Lithuania on the road at the Calvaria-Budzisk border crossing point, as reported by LRT RADIO.
Karolis Pechenskins, organizing the blockade at the Lithuanian border fr om March 1, stated that farmers will stop and physically inspect all vehicles likely to be transporting Ukrainian grain or other agricultural products.
"The protest action is set to begin on March 1 at 10 a.m. It will not be a complete blockade of the crossing point. We, the farmers, along with Polish authorities, want to check what is being transported in trucks, paying special attention to vehicles with the potential to carry agricultural products. If we see that grain and other agricultural products are being transported, we would like to know wh ere it is coming from, why, and how, to understand the volume of transportation," noted the Polish farmer.
According to him, Polish farmers have many concerns, but the main issue is the suspicion that some of the Ukrainian grain, intended to transit through Poland, actually remains in the country. "Agricultural products (imported from Ukraine to Poland—ed.) are unloaded from trucks onto trains, whose final destination is the transit ports of the Baltic Sea. However, farmers suspect that part of this production stays in Poland," said the blockade organizer.
While some experts suggest that the Kremlin may use the conflict over Ukrainian grain as a propaganda tool, the Polish farmer assures that they are avoiding any contact with potential provocateurs.
"We are against any provocations; we try and strive to ensure that our protests align with the interests of Polish farmers. We control to prevent radical, marginal, or politically unfavorable initiatives among us. We coordinate our protests with the authorities so that all protests proceed legally and peacefully, and we avoid any contact with potential provocateurs," said Pechenskins.
Earlier on Monday, the chairman of the Lithuanian Grain Producers Association, Aushris Matsiauskas, told LRT RADIO that Lithuanian farmers, on their part, will not contribute to the Polish protest. According to Matsiauskas, the biggest issue for Lithuanian farmers is Russian grain.
As reported earlier, Lithuania does not plan to ban the import of Russian and Belarusian grain after the Latvian parliament temporarily prohibited the import of agricultural products from these countries last week. However, the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture stated that it would announce new restrictions on the import of grain from Russia and Belarus.
"The protest action is set to begin on March 1 at 10 a.m. It will not be a complete blockade of the crossing point. We, the farmers, along with Polish authorities, want to check what is being transported in trucks, paying special attention to vehicles with the potential to carry agricultural products. If we see that grain and other agricultural products are being transported, we would like to know wh ere it is coming from, why, and how, to understand the volume of transportation," noted the Polish farmer.
According to him, Polish farmers have many concerns, but the main issue is the suspicion that some of the Ukrainian grain, intended to transit through Poland, actually remains in the country. "Agricultural products (imported from Ukraine to Poland—ed.) are unloaded from trucks onto trains, whose final destination is the transit ports of the Baltic Sea. However, farmers suspect that part of this production stays in Poland," said the blockade organizer.
While some experts suggest that the Kremlin may use the conflict over Ukrainian grain as a propaganda tool, the Polish farmer assures that they are avoiding any contact with potential provocateurs.
"We are against any provocations; we try and strive to ensure that our protests align with the interests of Polish farmers. We control to prevent radical, marginal, or politically unfavorable initiatives among us. We coordinate our protests with the authorities so that all protests proceed legally and peacefully, and we avoid any contact with potential provocateurs," said Pechenskins.
Earlier on Monday, the chairman of the Lithuanian Grain Producers Association, Aushris Matsiauskas, told LRT RADIO that Lithuanian farmers, on their part, will not contribute to the Polish protest. According to Matsiauskas, the biggest issue for Lithuanian farmers is Russian grain.
As reported earlier, Lithuania does not plan to ban the import of Russian and Belarusian grain after the Latvian parliament temporarily prohibited the import of agricultural products from these countries last week. However, the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture stated that it would announce new restrictions on the import of grain from Russia and Belarus.
