Kaliningrad crisis: Lithuania rejects Russian allegations - blockade "is a lie"
Created: 06/24/2022, 09:30 am
By: Richard Strobl
The Kaliningrad scandal between Russia and the EU country Lithuania is coming to a head.
Lithuania rejects the allegations.
The news ticker.
Kaliningrad scandal
in the middle of the
Ukraine war
: Russia threatens Lithuania with retaliation because of the alleged blockade of Kaliningrad.
Lithuania denies
blockade allegations
by Russia
Kaliningrad crisis
–
Germany
warns
Kremlin
: The federal government has warned Russia against countermeasures that violate international law.
Kaliningrad crisis:
Lithuania wants to
address
transit dispute at EU summit
This
news ticker
on
developments in Kaliningrad
is continuously updated.
Update from June 23, 6:20 p.m .:
Lithuania’s head of state Gitanas Nauseda wants to address the dispute with Russia at the EU summit over transit restrictions to the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.
"The President will raise this issue because it is a topical issue in our lives and because Russia has threatened a whole series of retaliatory measures against Lithuania, which implements EU sanctions," said his foreign policy adviser at the
BNS
agency in Vilnius.
“In our opinion, it would be correct to say that this is a matter for the EU, not for Lithuania, but for the EU as a whole.
And that the EU shows solidarity when it comes to implementing the sanctions," said Nauseda's adviser on Thursday before a meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
Lithuania on Saturday banned the transit of goods on the EU sanctions list through its territory to the area around the former Koenigsberg.
According to Kaliningrad, this affects 40 to 50 percent of all goods in transit, including building materials and metals.
Russia had criticized the restrictions as "illegal" and threatened countermeasures against the Baltic EU and NATO country.
Lithuania denies accusations: 'Blockade is a lie'
Update from June 23, 9:55 a.m .:
The Lithuanian government has rejected the Russian allegations regarding the Kaliningrad enclave.
Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte explained this in a video published on Twitter on Thursday evening.
"Any talk of a blockade of Kaliningrad is a lie," said the head of government.
Lithuania would only stick to the agreed sanctions that the EU had imposed on Russia.
It is precisely these sanctions for steel and ferrous metals that came into force last weekend after a three-month transition period.
These products are now no longer allowed to be brought to Russia through Lithuania and other EU countries.
However, as Simonyte noted, steel and metal make up just one percent of the freight brought to Kaliningrad by rail.
However, all other products are not affected by the sanctions and can be brought into the Russian enclave through Lithuania.
Passenger traffic by rail is also still possible.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has called Russian reports of a blockade of Kaliningrad a lie.
© Mateusz Wlodarczyk/imago-images
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First report from June 22nd:
Kaliningrad - The scandal surrounding the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the edge of the Ukraine war continues to escalate.
Russia has now threatened EU country Lithuania with "retaliation" for restricting rail travel to Kaliningrad.
Lithuania sees itself armed against the next steps from Moscow.
When it comes to transit restrictions, Lithuania relies on the applicable sanctions against Russia.
The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova now threatened "practical retaliatory measures".
The answer from Russia will be "not in the diplomatic, but in the practical area".
They said they would respond in the next few days.
Kaliningrad crisis: Russia threatens Lithuania with 'retaliation'
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov also spoke again from the Kremlin itself.
Accordingly, the restrictions contradict the “fundamental agreements” between the EU and Russia.
The 1994 agreement provides for free transit of goods.
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However, Lithuania sees itself well prepared for Russian countermeasures.
"We are ready and we are ready for unfriendly actions on the part of Russia, disconnection from the BRELL system or other actions," President Gitanas Nauseda told Reuters.
Even the exclusion from the joint power grid with Russia is therefore not a problem.
In addition, the threats from Russia were called "presumptuous".
Kaliningrad crisis: Germany warns Kremlin – Lithuania sees itself prepared
The federal government warned Russia against countermeasures that violate international law.
"We call on Russia not to take any measures that violate international law," government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin on Wednesday.
Hebestreit pointed out that Lithuania's actions are within the framework of the EU sanctions decisions.
The transit of certain sanctioned goods through Lithuania to Kaliningrad is prohibited, but persons and non-sanctioned goods are not affected by the ban, the government spokesman emphasized.
"We therefore clearly reject countermeasures announced by Russia," he emphasized.
During his visit to Lithuania in early June, Chancellor Scholz pledged additional military support to defend against a possible Russian attack.
Previously, a German-led NATO battalion with 1,600 soldiers was stationed in Lithuania, including more than 1,000 soldiers from the Bundeswehr.
Kaliningrad crisis: Bundeswehr in Lithuania
Germany could also be affected in the event of an escalation: the Bundeswehr has been leading a multinational NATO combat group with around a thousand German soldiers in Lithuania for more than five years.
Even before the conflict over Kaliningrad, Berlin had promised to increase its forces.
Soldiers of the Bundeswehr of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group (eFP battalion) stand at Camp Adrian Rohn during Chancellor Scholz's visit.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Kaliningrad is located on the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Poland and has no direct land connection to Russia.
EU member Lithuania announced last week that it would restrict rail traffic between Russia and its exclave.
Goods that fall under the EU sanctions against Russia can no longer be brought by rail from Russia to Kaliningrad via Lithuania.
These include above all metals, building materials, technology goods and coal.
According to Kaliningrad governor Anton Alikhanov, 40 to 50 percent of imports could be affected by what he calls a "blockade".
As a result, the head of the National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, announced retaliatory measures with “serious negative consequences for the population of Lithuania” on Tuesday.
(rjs/afp)
