While the Latvian government discusses how to implement the promised trade ban with Russia, part of the problem may be solved by Russia itself, reports LTV.
The Russian antimonopoly service ordered to double railway tariffs for cargoes coming from Russia or through Belarus to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland starting June 1. Transit from Central Asian countries will also become more expensive. However, the double tariffs do not apply to Lithuania.
The state-owned enterprise Latvijas dzelzceļš (Latvian Railways) is concealing the extent of the damage and the number of employees threatened with layoffs.
The chairman of the company's board, Artis Grinbergs, stated: “If I start naming specific figures now, it will be speculation. This directly affects the number of our employees, so I will refrain from assessing the scale of the consequences for now.”
In 2023 and 2024, the government allocated a total of 172.65 million euros for compensating passenger transport and the railway company's losses. If cargo volumes decrease even further, state support may be needed in greater amounts.
Transport Minister Rihards Kozlovskis does not expect anything good from the new Russian tariffs: “If the tariff policy changes, that is the reality. Business moves and is not tied to one place. There is nothing good about it.”
At the same time, the tariff increase does not apply to Lithuania. According to Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, this creates an unfair situation:
“This effectively divides us. All transit may go to Lithuania. We automatically lose interest in railway transportation. This is practically automatic sanctions against our railway. Then the port suffers, and further down the chain – everything else.
