Russia threatened Monday to retaliate to the introduction of “hostile” restrictions on the transit of certain goods via Lithuania to its enclave of Kaliningrad, a consequence of European sanctions linked to Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
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This affair further heightens the strong tensions between Russia and Western countries, in particular the Baltic States which have firmly supported Kyiv since the start of the conflict.
Moscow said Vilnius introduced over the weekend restrictions on rail transit of EU-sanctioned goods heading to Kaliningrad, a strategic and militarized enclave that is separated from the rest of Russia by Belarus and Russia. Lithuania.
“We have demanded (to Lithuania, editor’s note) the immediate lifting of these restrictions”, declared Russian diplomacy in a press release, qualifying these measures as “hostile”.
If transit “is not restored in full, then Russia reserves the right to act to defend its national interests”, she warned, adding that the Lithuanian charge d’affaires in Moscow had been summoned to Russian Foreign Ministry.
“The situation is more than serious,” noted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, saying that “an in-depth analysis was necessary to develop responses.”
Moscow, for whom these transit sanctions violate a 2002 Russia-EU agreement, did not specify what retaliatory measures were on the table.
Relations between Russia and the Baltic countries, including Lithuania, have been delicate for years.
The first Soviet republic to declare its independence in 1990, Lithuania, like Latvia and Estonia, is today a member of NATO and the European Union. These states see themselves as “in the front line” against Russia.
AFP
The Lithuanian government has indicated that the restrictions denounced by Moscow were a consequence of the sanctions imposed by the European Union after the offensive in Ukraine.
“It’s not Lithuania doing anything, it’s the European sanctions which started to work from June 17,” declared the head of Lithuanian diplomacy, Gabrielius Landsbergis, during a trip to the Luxemburg.
In this context, “goods under sanction (…) will no longer be authorized to transit through Lithuania”, specified the minister.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, confirmed.
“Overland transit between Russia and Kaliningrad has not been stopped or banned. The transit of passengers and goods continues. There is no blockade,” he said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Kyiv also lent its support to Vilnius. “Russia has no right to threaten Lithuania,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba said on Twitter.
Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov announced on Monday that goods that can no longer be transported by rail will begin to be transported by sea “within a week”.
He accused the Lithuanians of setting up a “blockade” and estimated that between 40% and 50% of the enclave’s imports could be subject to the restrictions, from coal to metals, construction materials and technological goods.
The head of Lithuanian diplomacy, Mr. Landsbergis, spoke about iron and products made from iron ore.
The Russian region of Kaliningrad, on the shores of the Baltic, borders to the west of Poland and to the east of Lithuania, two EU countries which do not have a border with Russia, but with Belarus, an ally of Moscow and which the trains cross.
The city of Kaliningrad was a Prussian city called Königsberg until it was conquered by the USSR in 1945, when it defeated Nazi Germany.
With the independence of the Baltic States from the USSR in 1991, the territory found itself landlocked, while remaining a strategic area against a backdrop of growing tensions between Russia and the West.
It is indeed there that anchors the Russian Baltic fleet and Moscow claims to have deployed in the enclave Iskander missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
AFP
On Monday, the Russian fleet, quoted by the Interfax agency, also announced the end of maneuvers in the Baltic Sea and in the Kaliningrad region. According to this source, the exercises mobilized, between June 9 and 19, 10,000 soldiers and around sixty boats.
The Russian military also released a video showing anti-ship missile fire hitting a practice target in the Baltic Sea.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca