A crane lifts a shipping container into a commercial port in Kaliningrad, Russia, on October 28, 2021. REUTERS / Vitaly Nevar / Stock Photo
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- This content occurred in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.
MOSCOW, June 24 (Reuters) – Moscow’s Foreign Ministry on Friday blamed the United States for a Lithuanian ban on the passage of sanctioned goods from the Russian mainland to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which has increased already high tensions between Moscow and the West.
“The so-called ‘collective west’, with the explicit instruction of the White House, imposed a ban on rail traffic on a wide range of goods through the Kaliningrad region,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. in a statement released Friday.
He said the movement was part of a pattern of “increasingly hostile actions on the part of the US side” towards Russia.
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Lithuania, a member of the European Union, began last Saturday to block the transit of Russian goods that are under EU sanctions after the new restrictions come into force.
Moscow has criticized the measure, calling it a “blockade” and pledged to a harsh response. Vilnius has said it is ready if Russia disconnects Lithuania from a regional power grid.
Russian officials have estimated in several ways that the ban will stop 30% or 50% of cargo traffic, but have also said goods can be diverted quickly to ships crossing the Baltic Sea.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Wednesday that Russia’s claims of a blockade were false.
He said that passenger traffic continued uninterrupted and that the affected goods accounted for only 1% of the total Russian freight traffic in Kaliningrad.
Moscow also said Friday that Washington’s refusal to waive airspace sanctions for allowing a Russian plane to fly to the United States to pick up Russian diplomats proved its calls for continued dialogue were not genuine.
Given the deteriorating relations, Russia said it was “impossible” to hold expert-level consultations with Washington on a number of bilateral issues that were to take place in the near future. He did not specify what topics he was referring to, or when conversations were to be held.
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Reuters report; Edited by Kevin Liffey
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