Agriculture, Legislation, Lithuania, Russia

This marks the second time that FNTT has declined to open a probe into Minudobreniya fertilizer imports into Lithuania. More than two weeks ago, the Prosecutor General's Office asked the service to reassess the available material. 

LRT reported last October that Agrokoncernas and another eight Lithuanian companies were importing fertilizers from Minudobreniya, which is controlled by Arkady Rotenberg, a Russian oligarch subject to international sanctions.

FNTT says in its conclusion that there are no grounds for it to open an investigation, because the importers were not aware of the sanctions on Rotenberg and they did not know who the owner of the fertilizer plant was. 

Following the national broadcaster's report, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry turned to law-enforcement bodies in an effort to find out if EU economic and other sanctions are violated in a situation where a Lithuanian company cooperates with a Russian company that is not on the sanction list, but its owner is subject to sanctions. 

The Foreign Ministry has recommended that Lithuanian companies refrain from business deals with Russian businesses whose owners are on "blacklists". 

According to LRT, Agrokoncernas purchases Minudobreniya's fertilizers via an intermediary in Dubai. Rotenberg, who has been under international sanctions since 2014 over his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, holds over 80% of shares in Minudobreniya, but the company itself is not on the sanction list.

LRT says it has received the European Commission's explanation that sanctions automatically apply to companies that are more than 50 % owned by blacklisted individuals. Law experts have told the public broadcaster that this means that Minudobreniya may be subject to sanctions as well.

Agrokoncernas has said it signed its latest contract on the purchase of Minudobreniya fertilizers, amounting to around 1 % of the Lithuanian company's annual revenue, at the turn of 2017-2018. The company has also said it will not buy any more Minudobreniya fertilizers for as long as its owned by Rotenberg. 

Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis told the Seimas in late November that he had asked the State Security Department if Karbauskis posed a threat to national security due to his Russian fertilizer business. He added that the response from the intelligence agency contained no information suggesting that the LFGU leader might be posing such a threat.