Lithuania’s forceful response to Russian threats over Kaliningrad

Russia continues to raise the tension and today he has threatened Lithuania with a “practical” answer and with measures will have a “serious negative impact”. Moscow justifies its warnings in that they respond to an alleged blockade of Kaliningrad by Vilnius. However, the country’s prime minister, Ingrida Simonytewanted to answer the Kremlin about the Kaliningrad transit.

Thus, Šimonytė bluntly assures that in the first place, “Any talk about blocking Kaliningrad is a lie.”

Second, the Lithuanian Prime Minister asserts that “Lithuania is complying with the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia for its aggression and war against Ukraine”.

The “premiere” also highlights that thirdly, “after a transitional period of three months, the EU sanctions on steel and ferrous metals transported through the territory of the EU came into effect last weekend”. In other words, Russia has been warned about this possibility for more than three months.

Fourth, Šimonytė explains that “sanctions were agreed by all EU member states on March 15”. In short, it is not a unilateral decision of his Government.

The Lithuanian Prime Minister also provides data to try to stop Russian propaganda. And it is that, in fifth place, “steel and ferrous metal products represent only about 1% of the total of the transport of goods by rail to Kaliningrad through Lithuania”.

The sixth point that Šimonytė wanted to clarify is that the rest of the goods necessary for the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad region are being transported: “Food, pharmaceuticals, etc. There is also passenger trafficunder a special agreement between the EU, Russia and Lithuania”.

“The transit of non-sanctioned passengers and goods to and from the Kaliningrad region through Lithuania continues without interruption”, insists the prime minister.

To conclude, Šimonytė states that “Lithuania has not imposed any unilateral, individual or additional restrictions on transit. Lithuania systematically applies the EU sanctions, which have different transition periods and dates of entry into force.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU has approved several sanctions packages against Moscow. From the Lithuanian Government they emphasize that the restrictive measures that entered into force on June 17 correspond to the fourth package of EU sanctions, which was adopted on March 15, 2022. “The EU restrictive measures on imports and the transit through the EU of Russian steel products and other ferrous metals definitively entered into force on June 17, 2022″, they recall.

“Lithuania applies the EU restrictive measures in accordance with EU law and in consultation with the European Commission and on the basis of its assessments,” they conclude.