Ukraine, Latvia and the United Kingdom plan to announce next week the signing of a memorandum to launch verification of the origin of Russian grain that may be transiting through Baltic ports, Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Taras Vysotsky said at a briefing on Friday.
"Together with Latvia and the United Kingdom, we are set to announce the signing of a memorandum next week to launch this kind of substantiated screening of all grain of Russian origin attempting to transit through Baltic ports," he said.
According to the minister, verification of Russian grain transiting through Lithuania has been in place since 2024 and has continued without interruption. The checks are meant to establish whether grain declared as Russian is actually produce stolen from occupied Ukrainian territories.
In January 2025, Ukraine, Lithuania and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum launching the Grain Verification Scheme (GVS) to combat the illegal export of Ukrainian grain from occupied territories. The grain origin verification system is already in use at the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. Under an enhanced control procedure introduced in 2024, feed grain from Russia, Belarus and other high-risk countries is subject to geographic origin testing. In early September 2026, the Lithuanian service took its first samples of grain whose intended use — for food or feed — was not clearly stated in customs declarations, in order to verify its country of origin.
As previously reported, on Sept 17 the Latvian Saeima approved amendments to the railway transport law that allow for an expedited review of tariffs on grain transit from Russia, including cargo delivered to Latvian ports for further export. The special procedure will remain in effect until the end of 2026, and the government has called on LatRailNet to assess the possibility of raising fees for transiting Russian grain to up to 300% of the current level.
