Transit of Russian, Belarusian grain prohibited in Estonian ports

The sea-based transit of grain from Russia and Belarus will be banned in Estonia after its government imposed a national sanction against the two countries primarily due to the Russia’s aggression over Ukraine, as supported by Belarus.

On Thursday, Tallinn decided to make the order public as Moscow seeks new export routes for its grain aside from the Black Sea.

According to Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, the ongoing attacks in Ukrainian ports and Russia’s attempt to hold Ukrainian grain from reaching the global market were the main reasons for the decision.

Tsahkna noted that it would be cynical for the country to allow Russian grain exports through Estonian ports.

Sanction signals definitive end

The foreign minister emphasised that the Estonian government has insisted that it is pointless for the country to permit Russian grain through its ports.

He stressed that the national sanction places a definitive end to the measure.

Tsahkna noted that the government will not help Moscow to reduce the consequences of a war it started.

The regulation, which will enter into force on the day following its publication in the Riigi Teataja (State Gazette), ensures Estonia will not become a new transit route for Russian grain.

Tsahkna said that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are working together to ensure that the transit of Russian grain does not call through the ports of the Baltic states.

The sanction, which prohibits the transit through Estonia of grain belonging to CN commodity group 10 originating from Russia and Belarus, was passed into law by amending Regulation No. 93 of September 29, 2022, titled “Imposition of a Government of the Republic Sanction Prohibiting the Purchase of Goods in Connection with the Aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Supported by the Republic of Belarus.”

For the purpose of halting the exportation of Russian and Belarusian grain products into the European Union, the EU imposed tariffs in 2024, but the tariffs do not completely prevent the transit of grain through the EU to third-party countries.

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