His right-hand man warns of “serious negative consequences for the people of Lithuania” for blocking Russian goods
Amid fresh rumors of alleged discomfort and division in the Russian leadership over the slow progress of the so-called “military special operation” in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin took advantage of a meeting in the Kremlin on Tuesday with graduates of Russian military academies in order to sending an encouraging message to his troops and announcing the rapid commissioning of his state-of-the-art missile, the fearsome Sarmat.
“The tests of the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile have been successfully completed. The aim is to have the first batch of this class of weapons in combat service by the end of 2022,” Putin assured the very young officers. In his words, this nuclear-powered missile, the first test launch of which took place in April, “is capable of overcoming all modern anti-missile defenses, it is the most powerful missile in terms of target range in the world”, in Europe and the US .
The Russian president said he is proud of his army: “We are proud that our fighters during the special military operation act bravely, professionally and as real heroes,” he stressed. He also promised that “in the face of new threats and risks, we will further develop and strengthen our armed forces.” “There is no doubt that we will be even stronger,” he emphasized.
The Sarmat, also known as Satan II, has a range of 18,000 kilometers and can be loaded with multiple warheads. According to the Kremlin, “there will be no comparable technology in the world for a long time.”
Meanwhile, President Putin’s right-hand man, the Secretary of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, arrived in Kaliningrad, a Russian area in northern Poland and also bordering Lithuania, which belonged to Germany until the end of World War II, to implement the measures should be taken in the light of Vilnius’s decision to veto rail transport to that enclave for certain goods.
Patrushev warned that Moscow “will respond to these hostile actions. Appropriate measures are being worked out at the interdepartmental level and will be adopted shortly.” During a meeting with local authorities, the Kremlin’s envoy made it clear that Vilnius’s attitude will “have serious negative consequences for the people of Lithuania”.
After being summoned on Monday by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the charge d’affaires of the Lithuanian embassy in Moscow, Virginia Umbrasiene, to receive a protest note, this Tuesday the person summoned for the same purpose was the EU ambassador, Markus Ederer, which was also required that Brussels “allows the normal restoration of transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of the territory of the Russian Federation.”
According to the statement released on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ederer was warned that “such actions are inadmissible, violate relevant legal and political obligations of the European Union and lead to an escalation of tensions.” .” In the event that the restrictions are not lifted, it is noted that Russia “will retaliate”.
On June 17, Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov announced that “Lithuanian Railways have informed Kaliningrad Railways that from June 18, a large list of goods subject to European sanctions will no longer be transported.” According to Alikhanov, “the service cut-off applies to 40-50% of the entire range of cargo in transit: construction materials, cement, metals and other important items.”
But Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, claimed on Monday that it is not a unilateral measure by his country, but that it is “European sanctions that on June 17 (…) we are doing it in coordination with the European Commission”. These restrictions were approved by Brussels on March 15 as part of the fourth package of sanctions.
The European ambassador was received on Tuesday by Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, who accused him that “the continued supply of arms to the Ukrainian armed forces by the European Union and its member states is unacceptable”. According to the diplomatic statement, Rudenko said such weapons are “used to bomb the civilian infrastructure and population centers of Donbass”. As a result, he added, “citizens and children are wrecking while the European Union ignores such facts”.
Source: La Verdad
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