Lithuania is applying European sanctions to the transit of certain products between Russia and Kaliningrad, but it is not imposing any blockade on the Russian enclave, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and the Lithuanian government assured on Monday.
“Land transit between Russia and Kaliningrad has not been interrupted or prohibited.. The transit of passengers and goods continues. There is no blockade,” Borrel told a news conference after a meeting of European Union (EU) foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
The Lithuanian government had already guaranteed the same, saying that the restrictions, denounced by Moscow, which it threatened to retaliate against, are a consequence of the sanctions imposed by the EU due to the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“It is not Lithuania that is doing anything, it is the European sanctions that started to work from June 17,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in Luxembourg.
It has been confirmed by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. “Lithuania has not adopted any unilateral or national restrictions. Is not true. It enforces EU sanctions,” insisted Borrell.
“We should be concerned when Russia announces retaliatory measures,” warned the head of European diplomacy.
Russia threatened on Monday to respond to the introduction of “hostile” restrictions on the transit of certain goods through Lithuania to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
Moscow said Vilnius introduced over the weekend restrictions on the rail transit of goods affected by European sanctions to Kaliningrad, a strategic and militarized enclave that is separated from the rest of the Russian territory by Belarus and Lithuania.
“We demand the immediate lifting of these restrictions”Russian diplomacy said in a statement, calling the measures “hostile”.
If transit “is not fully restored, then Russia reserves the right to act in defense of its national interests,” the same source warned, adding that the Lithuanian chargé d’affaires in Moscow had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry. Russian.
“The situation is more than serious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that “an in-depth analysis will be needed to find answers.”
This case further accentuates tensions between Russia and Western countriesin particular the Baltic states that have staunchly supported kyiv since the beginning, on February 24, of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Lithuania, the first Soviet republic to declare its independence in 1990, is today, like Latvia and Estonia, a member of NATO and the European Union.
Source: Observadora
