Russia may be allowed to transport sanctioned goods via Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region, the relevant document has been prepared by the European Commission. This was announced by Petras Auštrevičius, Lithuanian member of the European Parliament.
“Brussels are currently very hot about the transition to Kaliningrad and Russia seems to be winning so far,” he wrote on social networks.
According to the MEP, the issue of transporting goods from Russia to Kaliningrad was discussed at a number of meetings in the European Union. During the negotiations, Lithuania insisted on maintaining the ban, but one of the countries – which Auštrevičius did not specify – requested a review of the sanctions.
Therefore, discussions began, in which a document was presented that allows goods to be transported across the EU.
“This information was brought to Lithuania, which is not mentioned in the document, but it is clear that it will affect Lithuania by default,” the MP said.
Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian Council for International Relations, previously told Lente.ru that Lithuania will not spoil relations with the European Union due to obstacles to the transition to the Kaliningrad region as part of anti-Russian sanctions.
“Theoretically, Lithuania could impose some individual sanctions on transit, but it is unlikely to violate European Union discipline, especially since such a transit war is unprofitable for Lithuania. Yes, the transition from Russia to Kaliningrad is via Lithuania, but the Kaliningrad region itself is Lithuania’s transit corridor to Poland and European countries.
On June 24, the Governor of the Kaliningrad Region Anton Alikhanov announced that the European Union will take into account the obligations and will not interfere with the transition to Kaliningrad.
“Now there are reports that the Europeans will heed their obligations and not interfere with the Kaliningrad passage. Let’s see how this situation will be reflected in the documents, how quickly,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
He added that they expect regional authorities, together with the Russian Foreign Ministry, to be able to ensure that the ban on transit of sanctioned goods from other regions of the Russian Federation can be lifted.
“There will be no changes to the first four packages. [санкций]”Either the change in the fifth package will be extended to the previous four, or new clarifications will be made to Lithuanians not to apply the restrictions of the first four packages in Kaliningrad transit,” Alikhanov said.
On June 23, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the European Union does not plan to block communications between Russia and Kaliningrad, but also wants to avoid circumventing sanctions. The head of European diplomacy emphasized that the situation in Kaliningrad is not a “blockade”.
“We don’t want to block traffic between Kaliningrad and Russia, but we also need control to prevent EU-imposed sanctions from being circumvented,” Borrell said, adding that “it should also be done”.
On 22 June, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said that as EU sanctions against Russia expand, Vilnius will continue to increase the list of prohibited goods within the framework of cargo transportation.
He also said that he is ready for retaliatory measures from Russia, including the possible disconnection of Lithuania from the regional energy system. On the same day, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency, said that concrete measures were discussed in Moscow in response to Lithuania’s actions.
“Concrete measures are being discussed. We talked about it. In this case, we believe that the illegal sanctions adopted by the European Union cannot be applied in this situation and that the application of these sanctions in transit to Kaliningrad is against the basic documents,” he said.
Peskov added that we can talk about various measures, including economic ones. According to him, Moscow will talk about something specific, after “weighing everything.”
On 17 June, Lithuanian Railways informed the Kaliningrad Railway that from 18 June they will stop transiting a large list of goods that are “subject to European sanctions”. Governor Alikhanov later noted that, according to preliminary estimates, the embargo will affect between 40% and 50% of the entire range of transit cargo. These are building materials, cement, metals and other important commodities.
The Ministry of Economic Development of the Kaliningrad Region has also published a list of goods that cannot enter the region through Lithuania due to restrictions. The document consists of 66 pages.
The restrictions included household appliances over 750 euros, luxury items as well as caviar, perfumes, sports equipment for billiards, bowling, golf and musical instruments over 1,000 euros each. All these substances are included in the sanctions lists of the European Union.
Source: Gazeta
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