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Russian authorities on Monday threatened Lithuania, a member of NATO, with retaliation if the Baltic country does not quickly lift its ban on the transport of certain goods to Russia’s Eklav Kaliningrad by rail.
Referring to instructions from the European Union, Lithuania’s railway said on Friday that it was stopping the transport of goods from Russia that had been sanctioned by the European bloc.
Dmitry S. Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told reporters the situation was “more than serious.” He called the new restrictions “an element of a blockade” of the region and a “violation of everything.”
Accustomed to Russian threats, officials in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, took Moscow’s warnings as mostly outraged – the latest in a series of increasingly courageous statements from a country that has been strained militarily by its invasion of Ukraine.
“We are not particularly worried about Russian threats,” said Laurynas Kasciunas, chair of the Lithuanian Parliament’s National Security and Defense Committee. “The Kremlin has very few options for revenge.”
A military response from Russia, he added, “is highly unlikely because Lithuania is a member of NATO. If that were not the case, they would probably consider it.”
Russia’s outrage against Lithuania was followed by a warning earlier on Monday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Moscow would launch “major hostile activity” against Ukraine and European countries in the coming days in response to his nation’s efforts to join the European Union.
Up to 50 percent of all rail freight transported between Russia and Kaliningrad – which Russian officials said includes building materials, concrete and metals – will be affected by the ban announced last week. The restrictions revealed the acute vulnerability of the region, which is part of Russia but not connected to the rest of the country. It borders the Baltic Sea, but is sandwiched between two NATO members, Lithuania and Poland.
Kaliningrad, which the Soviet army took from Germany in 1945, was once hailed by Russia as a symbol of its growing ties with Europe. But it has lately become a fleeting east-west fault line.
In the 1990s, Russian authorities promoted Kaliningrad’s former ties to Germany as a tourist attraction, to celebrate its role in the life and work of the 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who was born and lived in Konigsburg, the regional capital now called Kaliningrad.
Recently, however, Moscow has tried to obliterate the traces of Germany’s deep historical ties to the region – although Germany does not claim Kaliningrad and has shown no interest in regaining it, a stark contrast to Russia’s view of the former Soviet territory, including Ukraine.
Embarrassed by increasingly aggressive nationalism, Russia has abandoned policies that promoted Russia as part of Europe and moved advanced Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad. Lithuania’s defense minister said in April that Russia had stationed nuclear weapons in the region, which Moscow denies.
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Lithuania’s top envoy on Monday over what it called “openly hostile” restrictions.
“If freight transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, Russia reserves the right to take measures to protect its national interests,” the ministry said. in a statement.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis defended the restrictions on transport to Kaliningrad, saying that his country only met the conditions for EU sanctions.
“It is not Lithuania that is doing anything, it is European sanctions that started working,” he said told reporters in Luxembourg on Monday ahead of a meeting with European foreign ministers.
Anton Alikhanov, Governor of Kaliningrad, sa his government was already working to find alternative routes for freight transport, especially those containing metals and construction materials. He said an alternative could be to move cargo at sea, which would require up to seven vessels to fill demand before the end of the year.
He added that the local government was considering at least three reprisals to propose to the Kremlin, including a possible ban on the transport of goods to Lithuanian ports via Russia.
Russia’s relations with Lithuania, formerly part of the Soviet Union, have never been close but have risen dramatically in recent months as Lithuania took a leading role in pushing for tough European Union sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. .
Just two weeks ago, a member of Russia’s parliament from Putin’s United Russia party introduced a bill declaring Lithuania’s 1990 declaration of independence illegal. The bill seeks to reverse the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which Putin has lamented as “the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.”
But as the staggering progress of Russian troops in Ukraine has shown, there is a yawning gap between Putin’s desire to roll back history and his country’s capabilities. Any military action against Lithuania would bring Russia’s already battered military into direct confrontation with NATO.
Tomas Dapkus contributed reporting from Vilnius.