By applying European sanctions against Russia, Lithuania blocked the ferry transit of certain goods to this territory. Moscow denounces a “blockade”.
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Lithuania awaits, feverish. Since Monday, June 20, the Russian authorities have been promoting a reaction adapted to Moscow now considers a blockade of the Russian enclave in Kaliningrad, while Vilnius began to apply European sanctions that affect transit of certain goods transported by train to through the Lithuanian territory between continental Russia and the enclave.
The governor of Kaliningrad, Anton Alikhanov, alerted Moscow by claiming that the application of the fourth pack of sanctions would affect between 40 % and 50 % of imports from the territory populated by approximately one million Russians. European reprisal measures mainly concern coal, metals and building materials, and will be extended in July to cement and alcohol.
These concerns were amplified by the Russian Business Officer in Lithuania, Sergei Ryabokon, who declared that the prohibition of transit was no longer just a matter of application of sanctions: “It is A blockade, of a partial blockade of the cargoes which they implement in this way against our region. “Words which weigh heavy, because its implementation could be akin to an act of war. According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, Russia is studying an answer on the recommership measures envisaged “in the coming days”. “This decision is really unprecedented, he stated. It constitutes a violation of absolutely everything.” Moscow has claimed the immediate lifting of this ban considered as “illegal”.
On social networks, disinformation is in full swing and becomes for the prorusians the demonstration that NATO is in the maneuver to cause Russia and light the wick of the third world war.
Russian Baltic Sea fleet
But it was probably only a matter of time before Kaliningrad, wedged between the Baltic Sea, Poland and Lithuania, and separated from Belarus and Continental Russia by what is called the Suwalki corridor, for 70 kilometers, does not become a powder. The enclave, where ISKANDER anti -ballical missiles have been deployed for a few years, is also the seat of the Russian Baltic Sea fleet.
Every month, a hundred trains of passenger and non -military goods connect Kaliningrad to continental Russia via Belarus, ally of Moscow, and Lithuania, member of the European Union (EU) and the ‘NATO since 2004. The implementation of this transit was one of the conditions imposed on Lithuania during its membership in the EU.
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