The Lithuanian government specified that the restrictions denounced by Moscow was a consequence of the sanctions taken by the European Union in connection with the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
Le Monde
This affair further strengthens the strong tensions between Russia and Western countries. Russia threatened, Monday, June 20, to reply to the introduction of “hostile” restrictions on the transit of certain goods via Lithuania to its enclave in Kaliningrad, a consequence of European sanctions linked to the offensive of Moscow in Ukraine.
The Russian region of Kaliningrad is an enclave by the Baltic Sea, separated from the rest of Russia and border west of Poland and east of Lithuania. Moscow meant that Vilnius had introduced restrictions on the ferre transit of goods struck by European sanctions in the direction of Kaliningrad, a strategic and militarized enclave which is separated from the rest of the Russian territory during the weekend.
“We have claimed [Lithuania] the immediate lifting of these restrictions,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, calling these measures as “hostile”. If transit “is not restored in whole, then Russia reserves the right to act to defend its national interests,” he warned, adding that the Lithuanian project manager in Moscow had been Convened to the ministry.
“The situation is more than serious,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, believing that a “in-depth analysis was necessary to develop the aftershocks”. Moscow, for whom these sanctions on the violent transit a Russian-EU agreement of 2002, did not specify what measures of reprisals were on the table.
If the Baltic States have expressed their firm support in kyiv since the start of the conflict, relations between them and Russia have been delicate for years. First Soviet Republic to declare its independence in 1990, Lithuania, such as Latvia and Estonia, is today a member of the Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) and the European Union (EU). These states are seen as “on the front line” against Russia.
The Lithuanian government said that the restrictions denounced by Moscow was a consequence of the sanctions taken by the EU in connection with the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. During a trip to Luxembourg, the head of Lithuanian diplomacy, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said:
It is not Lithuania that does anything, it is the European sanctions that have started to operate from June 17.
In this context, “property under sanction (…) will no longer be authorized to pass through Lithuania,” said the Minister, stressing that this measure was applied in accordance with the “European Commission directives”.
At a press conference after a meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also said:
The land transit between Russia and Kaliningrad has not been stopped or prohibited. The transit of passengers and goods continues. There are no blockade.
unpleasant, but surmountable “situation
Faced with Russian anger, kyiv supported Lithuania. “Russia is not allowed to threaten Lithuania,” said Ukrainian diplomacy chief Dmytro Kouleba. “We salute the position of principle of Lithuania and firmly support our Lithuanian friends,” he added on Twitter .
qualifying the situation of “unpleasant, but surmountable”, the governor of Kaliningrad, Anton Alikhanov, announced on Monday that the goods unable to be transported by rail would begin to be by sea “by a week “.
He accused the Lithuanians of having implemented a “blockade” and estimated that between 40 % and 50 % of imports of the enclave could be affected by restrictions, from coal to metals, passing through the building materials and technological goods.
The head of Lithuanian diplomacy, Mr. Landsbergis, spoke, he, iron and products based on iron ore.