Estonia denies Russia the use of its ports as an alternative to the Black Sea

Estonia has said it will not allow Russian grain exports to be rerouted through its ports amid Russia’s search for alternatives to the Black Sea routes.

This was stated by Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.

According to him, the transit of Russian grain through Estonia is currently practically non-existent and the authorities want to maintain this situation.

“Our signal to cargo operators is clear: do not plan to transport Russian grain through Estonia. We do not consider it acceptable for Russia to start using Estonian ports for its exports,” Tsahkna said.

He stressed that Russia is trying to find new routes for grain due to problems with traditional exports through the Black Sea.

Estonia will also continue coordination with Latvia and Lithuania to find a regional or pan-European solution to stop the transit of Russian grain and prevent the export of products stolen from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

If the flow of Russian grain begins to be redirected through Estonia, the government is ready to introduce its own sanctions to ban it.

Earlier it became known that the ports of Latvia and Lithuania will be checked to see if Russia is transporting stolen Ukrainian grain.