New tensions between Moscow and the West escalate after Lithuania decided to stop transporting some goods through its territory to the Russian region of Kaliningrad as part of European Union sanctions on the Kremlin.
The Kremlin warns that it will retaliate against the sanctions resulting from its invasion of Ukraine, in a way that will have a “significant negative impact” on the Lithuanian people, raising fears of a direct confrontation between Russia and Russia. NATO.
Take a look at the growing tensions over Kaliningrad, a part of Russia in the Baltic Sea that is separated from the rest of the country:
The westernmost territory of Russia
The Kaliningrad region was part of the German province of East Prussia, which was taken over by the Soviet Union after World War II under the 1945 Potsdam Agreement between the Allied Powers. The capital of East Prussia, Konigsberg, was renamed Kaliningrad after Mikhail Kalinin, a Bolshevik leader.
New tensions between Moscow and the West escalate after Lithuania decided to stop transporting some goods across its territory to the Russian region of Kaliningrad as part of European Union sanctions on the Kremlin (PA).
It is estimated that two million Germans fled the territory during the last months of World War II, and those who remained were forcibly expelled after hostilities ended.
The Soviet authorities developed Kaliningrad as an important ice-free port and a key fishing center, encouraging people from other regions to move to the territory. Since the Cold War, Kaliningrad has also served as an important base for Russia’s Baltic fleet.
But since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of the Baltic countries, Kaliningrad has been separated from the rest of Russia by Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, now all members of NATO. To the south is Poland, another NATO member.
As Russia’s relations with the West have deteriorated, Kaliningrad’s military role has grown. Its location has put it at the forefront of Moscow’s efforts to counter what it described as hostile to NATO’s policies.
The Kremlin has methodically strengthened its military forces there, arming them with state-of-the-art weapons, including precision-guided Iskander missiles and a number of air defense systems.
As the military importance of the region has grown, its dependence on goods from Poland and Lithuania has made it especially vulnerable.
Lithuania stressed that the ban on the movement of sanctioned goods was part of the fourth package of EU sanctions against Russia, noting that it only applies to steel and ferrous metals from 17 June.
The Vilnius government rejected Russia’s description of the move as a blockade, stressing that unsanctioned goods and rail passengers could still travel through Lithuania.
The Vilnius government rejected Russia’s description of the move as a blockade, stressing that unsanctioned goods and rail passengers could still travel through Lithuania (AP Photo / Mindaugas Kulbis)
According to the EU decision, coal will be banned in August and shipments of oil and petroleum products will stop in December.
Moscow formally protested the shutdown of shipments to Kaliningrad as a violation of agreements between Russia and the EU on the free movement of goods in the region.
Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov said the ban would affect up to half of all items brought into the region, including cement and other building materials.
Nikolai Patrushev, the powerful secretary of the Russian Security Council and a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin, visited Kaliningrad on Tuesday to meet with local officials. He described the restrictions as “hostile actions” and warned that Moscow would respond with unspecified measures that “will have a significant negative impact on the population of Lithuania”.
Patrushev did not give further details, but Alikhanov suggested that the Russian response could include closing the cargo flow through the ports of Lithuania and other Baltic nations.
Putin will decide on Russia’s response after receiving Patrushev’s report (Maxim Shipenkov / Pool Photo via AP)
However, Lithuania has significantly reduced its economic and energy dependence on Russia, recently becoming the first EU country to stop using Russian gas. It no longer imports Russian oil and has suspended imports of Russian electricity.
The transport of most Russian traffic through Lithuanian ports has already been stopped under EU sanctions, but Moscow could restrict the transit of goods from third countries through Lithuania.
Putin will decide Russia’s response after receiving Patrushev’s report.
Russia’s confrontation with Lithuania is part of its difficult relationship that dates back to the annexation of the country by Moscow, along with Estonia and Latvia, in 1940. The three pressed their way to independence under the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and recovered it when the USSR collapsed in 1991.
Some in the West have long feared that Russia might be looking into military action to secure a land corridor between its ally Belarus and the Kaliningrad region through the so-called Suwalki Gap, a 65-kilometer strip of land. (40 miles) to Poland. the border with Lithuania.
The rhetoric on Russian state television has risen sharply, with commentator Vladimir Solovyov accusing the West of a maneuver that has pushed the clock forward into World War III.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas warned on Wednesday of the danger of Russian provocations amid tensions in Kaliningrad. “When you have a military force and they are ruled by ingenious means, I apologize for the expression, of course you can expect everything,” he said, adding that Lithuania feels confident and confident in its allies. NATO.
With most of the Russian army bogged down in Ukraine, any use of force in the Baltics could go beyond Moscow’s conventional weapons capability.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said she did not believe there was a military threat to Lithuania, adding that Russia was trying to increase pressure on the EU to ease sanctions.
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“Russia is very good at playing with our fears because, you know, we are withdrawing from our decisions,” Kallas said in an interview with The Associated Press.
A Russian attempt to use force against Poland or Lithuania would trigger a direct conflict with NATO, which is obliged to protect any of its members under the mutual defense clause in its Article 5 charter.
On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price emphasized Washington’s “iron” commitment to the clause, which he described as NATO’s “base” principle.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov responded by warning the EU and NATO of “dangerous rhetorical games” over Kaliningrad.
“Some influential and powerful forces in the West are doing everything possible to further aggravate tensions in relations with Russia,” he said, adding that “some simply have no limits to invent scenarios in which a military confrontation with us would seem inevitable “.