After seeing that train traffic to Kaliningrad was blocked for part of its goods
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ordered this Monday against the ultimatum issued by Moscow to block the train transit of goods on the sanctions list to the enclave of Kaliningrad, an area belonging to Germany (the former Königsberg). ), but that the Soviet Union was annexed after the end of World War II. According to the head of Lithuanian diplomacy, Gabrielius Landsbergis, the ban on the transit of ferrous metals (including steel) between Russia and Kaliningrad is “not a decision of Lithuania, but a consequence of the sanctions of the European Union against Moscow”.
“First of all, this is not a Lithuanian initiative, but these are European sanctions that have been in force since June 17 and are currently being applied by our railways,” Landsbergis assured in Luxembourg at the meeting of EU foreign ministers. In his words, “we are doing it in coordination with the European Commission.”
Lithuanian customs, for its part, assured that these restrictions “have been known since mid-March as part of the fourth package of European sanctions”. This new round of sanctions, adopted on March 15, “imposed restrictions on Russian steel and other articles made of ferrous metals under contracts concluded before June 17, so that they cannot be moved through the territory of the Community from June 18.”
The spokeswoman for the customs department, Lina Laurinaitytė-Grigiene, insists that “land transit between the Kaliningrad region and other regions of Russia has not been stopped or blocked. The transit of passengers and goods not subject to EU sanctions continues. Lithuania has not imposed any unilateral, individual or additional restrictions on this transit. We have received no further instructions and will not take any further action.” Laurinaitytė-Grigiene announced that the same ban will come into effect on July 10 for cement, alcohol and other products, on August 10 for coal and other solid minerals and on December 5 for Russian oil.
Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement Monday morning that Lithuanian Chargé d’affaires, Virginia Umbrasiene, had been subpoenaed to deliver the protest against the blockade of Russian goods “without notice”. In the note, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands “the immediate lifting of these restrictions, measures that we consider to be a provocation on the Lithuanian side, as they violate Lithuania’s international legal obligations, in particular the joint statement of the Russian Federation and the European Union on transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the territory of the Russian Federation, 2002.” Russian Foreign Affairs also describes Lithuania’s attitude as “openly hostile” and warns that “if in the near future freight transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the territory of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored, Russia reserves the right to take measures to protect its national interests.”
Andrei Klimov, head of the Federation Council (Upper House) commission for the protection of national sovereignty, warns that if Vilnius does not back down, “Russia will have a free hand to solve the problem with all available means (…) Lithuania will invalidate agreements and treaties on his EU membership.” Klimov warned that “blocking an entity belonging to Russia is an act of direct aggression against Moscow that would force us to resort to legitimate defense.” Although on a purely informal level, this Monday in Moscow there was talk of the possibility of forcibly opening the so-called Suwalki corridor, on the border between Poland and Lithuania, which would connect Belarus with Kaliningrad at the expense of Polish and Lithuanian territory. . This measure, if implemented, would cause a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.
The deputy chairman of the Russian Senate, Konstantin Kosachiov, stated on his Telegram channel that the Lithuanian authorities are violating international law. “As an EU Member State, Lithuania is violating, under sanctions, a number of legally binding international commitments that affect not only Lithuania’s obligations, but also those of the European Union as a whole.”
It refers to Article 12 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the Russian Federation and the European Union of June 24, 1994, which, according to Kosachiov, “has not yet been denounced”. “This document establishes that each Party ensures free transit through its territory of goods originating in the customs territory or destined for the customs territory of the other Party,” it added.
The Russian senator has accused Brussels of also violating “World Trade Organization principles”. According to his position, “at this rate, the West may even be violating the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which also includes freedom of transit (…) in the same way as airspace.” Kaliningrad governor Anton Alikhanov warned Moscow on June 17 of “a significant reduction in rail freight traffic from other regions of Russia via Lithuania”.
Source: La Verdad
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