Lithuania to inspect grain shipments from Russia and Belarus for crops from occupied Ukraine, potentially delaying exports by months

Lithuania will inspect the origin of grain from Russia and Belarus transported through the port of Klaipeda, the country’s authorities announced. Shipments will be held until the inspections are complete, Reuters reported.The inspections could take two months or more, a representative of Lithuania’s Ministry of Agriculture told the agency. Lithuania has no laboratory capable of running the necessary tests, and sending samples abroad takes time.If the documents accompanying a shipment misstate the grain’s origin, the shipment will be returned to the sender or destroyed, the Reuters source said.Lithuania’s Ministry of Agriculture said exporters will bear all costs of storing, inspecting, returning, or destroying the grain.European Union countries have banned imports of grain from Russia and Belarus but not its transit through their territory.Russia is suspected of having harvested some of the grain it exports in the occupied territories of Ukraine.Drone attacks on port infrastructure and ships effectively halted shipments of Russian grain through the ports of the Black and Azov seas in the summer of 2026. Ukraine also has been unable to ship grain through the Black Sea. Both countries play an important role in global grain supplies. With that route closed, Russia has significantly increased grain transit through the Baltic states.The authorities of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had previously proposed banning the transit of grain from Russia at the European Union level.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.