On Monday, July 11, Lithuania extended limits on trade through its territory to Russia’s Baltic enclaves of Kaliningrad, following an earlier EU announcement of anti-Russian sanctions.
Kaliningrad borders on NATO and the EU states, Lithuania and Poland, and relies on railways and roads through Lithuania for most goods. As reminded, the coastal territory has been cut off from some freight transport from mainland Russia since June 17 under EU sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to a customs spokesperson, the supplements banned from Monday morning contain:
- concrete,
- wood,
- alcohol,
- alcohol-based chemicals.
The harsh measures on trade come as governments are worried that Russia could extend the closure of a major single gas pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany beyond a planned 10-day waiting period.
In turn, Russia has warned Lithuania and EU that it could take “tough action” against them if the transit of some goods to and from Kaliningrad did not resume “in the coming days.”
“We will not wait indefinitely. The solution of the problem has taken too long,” the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said.
Ru-Main, 11.07.2022
Source: Reuters
