Kaliningrad: Row erupts over goods blocked from entering Russian territory
Russia has summoned the EU ambassador in response to Lithuania’s ban on some goods being transported by rail to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.
Lithuania says it is bound by EU sanctions, imposed as part of a series of measures taken over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has called the measures “unprecedented” and “illegal”.
Russia’s foreign ministry has threatened “to take actions to protect its national interests”.
Kaliningrad – which has no land border with Russia – was annexed from Germany in 1945 and remains of strategic importance to Russia.
Last week, the Lithuanian authorities announced they would ban goods subject to EU sanctions from passing through their territory to Kaliningrad.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said: “It’s not Lithuania doing anything: it’s European sanctions that started working from 17 June… It was done with consultation from the European Commission and under European Commission guidelines.”
The EU sanctions list includes coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology – and Russia’s Kaliningrad Region Governor, Anton Alikhanov, Alikhanov said the ban would cover around 50% of the items that Kaliningrad imports.
“We consider this to be a most serious violation… of the right to free transit into and out of Kaliningrad region,” he said.
Russia’s foreign ministry said Vilnius must reverse a move it described as “openly hostile”.
“If cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, then Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests,” it said, without specifying what those actions may be.
Lithuania is a member of the Nato military alliance, protected by collective defense treaties.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES