Russia threatens Lithuania over Kaliningrad crossing

Moscow accuses Lithuania of imposing a blockade because it applies European Union sanctions that block the transport of goods to Russia’s Kaliningrad region. The conflict dates back to the time of Lithuania’s accession to the European Union.

aTry em for the weekend Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov demanded to calm the situation: there is no reason to panic, the area is well equipped with everything you need; There is no reason to stock up on cement or fuel, he said in a letter to residents of the Russian isolated on the Baltic Sea, he takes responsibility for it personally. According to reports from the region, they responded to the news on Friday evening that Lithuanian railways would no longer transport goods under EU sanctions to Kaliningrad via Lithuanian territory with panic buying. In an interview with Russian television, Alikhanov said that the situation was, of course, “very disturbing”, but not a disaster: “We prepared for such a thing.” There are enough free ships to take everything necessary from the port of Ust – to bring Luga near Petersburg to Kaliningrad.

In Moscow, however, at the start of the week, the opposite tone of calm was set. There is talk in the Russian state media of a “virtual siege” of the Kaliningrad region by Lithuania. President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the Lithuanian decision was a “violation of everything” and that the situation was “more than serious”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow accused Lithuania of violating international conventions, especially the “Joint Declaration” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs European Union Russia’s crossing in November 2002 into Kaliningrad Oblast, considered “clearly hostile”. The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that Lithuania should understand “the most important thing”: if Russia declares the actions of the state “hostile”, “it is no longer about talks, it is no longer about finding any formulas that can calm the situation.”