LONDON (Reuters) – Russia warned NATO member Lithuania on Monday that unless freight traffic in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea is restored quickly, Moscow will take undisclosed measures to defend its national interests .
With East-West relations at least half a century after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Vilnius banned the transit of EU-sanctioned goods through Lithuanian territory to and from enclave, citing EU sanctions rules.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Lithuania’s top envoy to Moscow to protest while the Kremlin said the situation was more than serious.
“The situation is more than serious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “This decision is truly unprecedented. It’s a violation of everything.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry demanded that Vilnius immediately reverse what it described as an “openly hostile” movement.
“If the transit of goods between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation through Lithuania is not completely restored in the near future, Russia reserves the right to take action to protect its national interests,” he said. .
Kaliningrad, formerly the port of Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia, was captured from Nazi Germany by the Red Army in April 1945 and ceded to the Soviet Union after World War II. It is located between NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
Lithuania said it was only enforcing EU sanctions, part of a series of measures aimed at punishing President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine.
“Lithuania is not doing anything: it is the European sanctions that started working from June 17,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters in Luxembourg.
“It was done in consultation with the European Commission and under the guidance of the European Commission,” Landsbergis said.
Lithuania’s state-owned railway informed customers that from June 17, sanctioned goods such as steel and iron would not be allowed to cross Lithuania, Landsbergis said.
(Reuters report; written by Guy Faulconbridge; edited by Alex Richardson)