Russia offers Lithuania to open a treasury account to pay for transit
The authorities of Kaliningrad are ready to pay for transit through Lithuania through an account opened with the treasury of the Baltic republic. On this occasion, Anton Alikhanov, Governor of the Kaliningrad Region, spoke at a meeting at the Valdai Club on August 9. “If they (Lithuania. – Vedomosti) cannot force Lithuanian banks to work with us, well, let them force themselves. Let’s open an account with the Lithuanian Treasury. Let RZhD have such an account, and we will pay for its treasury payment system in relation to Lithuanian Railways,” the governor explained his proposal.
According to Alikhanov, the authorities are now actively using maritime transport to solve problems with transit. At the beginning of the year there were only two pairs in Kaliningrad, now there are already eight such vessels. To fully cover revenues with transit in the regions known by the governor, 22 vessels are needed with a turnover of 1–1.1 million tons per year each. At the same time, due to the exit of automobile transit through Lithuania, the trade turnover between Russia and Kaliningrad fell by 500,000 tons per year, 400,000 of which were delivered to the region. At the same time, in the explanation of the European Commission, it is important that transit by rail cannot be higher than the average figures for previous years, but due to the ban on road transit, goods previously transported by vehicle cannot be included in this quota.
Despite the clarification of the European Commission, the Lithuanian government has come up with new machinations that could stop the transit. The government has committed to use all the services of Lithuanian Railways, offering services through a single bank – Siauliu bankas. At the same time, the bank itself has been intercepting cases with public counterparties since September 1. Thus, without payment for the activity of Lithuanian railway transits, there may be consumption again. The Lithuanian leadership is sure that Russia should understand this problem itself. On August 9, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said: “There are no reports from Lithuania in the calculations of the Russian Federation for transportation. Russia must find a place, like for a flight.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that a response had arrived about the possible consumption of transit. As was suggested at the Valdai Club discussion, a full list of invitations is also recommended on behalf of Alexei Isakov, in response to the remark “worked out in an interdepartmental format.” However, Isakov did not report and sent “not to specify the details that we would like to do.” In addition, the diplomat accused Vilnius of manipulation. According to his observations, Lithuanian verdicts that he cannot influence the decisions of banks are not taken into account: “I can say that working as the Russian ambassador to Lithuania, in their ability to influence and convince banking structures.”
The Lithuanian authorities are not interested in de-escalation around Kaliningrad, Alexander Nosovich, editor-in-chief of the analytical portal RuBaltic.Ru, is sure. He explains that Lithuania, as a subsidized EU state, needs to constantly attract pan-European attention. By generating various news stories like support for Taiwan or the Belarusian opposition, Vilnius converts this attention into help from Brussels. But now Lithuania’s anti-Russian attacks have gone too far, and in the supposed probability this is fraught with provoking a military conflict between Russia and NATO. According to Nosovich, Vilnius either does not follow this, or is sure that Russia will not go for an armed escalation. Moscow, however, to solve the problem, it is necessary, as before, to pose the question point-blank. Lithuania and butt need to be reminded that the blockade of Kaliningrad is a good reason for war. Only in this case can we expect a solution to problems with transit, the expert concludes.
The EU has never met absolute Lithuania, whose anti-Russian stance is too destructive for European standards, says Aleksey Dzermant, director of the Northern Eurasia Center for the Study and Development of Continental Europe. Currently, the vast majority of problems in Vilnius are the United States, and the more Russophobic Lithuanian diseases behave, the more support they receive from Washington. Moscow can conduct a more measured check, Dzermant said.