The head of the Kaliningrad region, Alikhanov, allowed the stoppage of transit through Lithuania on September 1
The head of the Kaliningrad region, Anton Alikhanov, allowed transit through Lithuania to be stopped from September 1. This was reported in the press service of the governor of the region, reports RIA News.
Thus, he commented on the decision of the Lithuanian “Siauliai Bank” to stop operations with Russia. According to him, this will mean the inability to pay for the fare, as a result of which Vilnius may again block the transport of goods through the country.
Actually, as far as I understand, we made all payments through this bank, the Lithuanians themselves centralized them through their banking structure earlier. Therefore, the Lithuanians will either let us through for free – which I doubt – or stop letting us through
The Lithuanian “Siauliai Bank”, serving the entire Kaliningrad transit, announced the termination of banking operations with Russia from September 1, said the head of the Russian embassy in Vilnius, Sergei Ryabokon.
Lithuania stopped transit to Kaliningrad by rail of a number of goods that fell under EU sanctions on June 18. The restrictions affected from 40 to 50 percent of the range of goods, including construction materials, cement and metals.
On July 13, the European Commission recognized the rail transit of goods through Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region as permitted, but with a number of conditions regarding the method of their delivery. The published instruction notes that the transit of prohibited goods by road is not allowed.
On July 26, the first train with cement arrived through Lithuania to Kaliningrad. On July 27, the governor of the Kaliningrad region, Anton Alikhanov, announced that Russia would seek to remove restrictions on the transit of vehicles through Lithuania to the region.
Related materials:
The European Commission is acting as if it does not want a settlement on transit
Charge d’Affaires of Russia in Lithuania Sergei Ryabokon broadcast TV channel “Russia 24” stated that the European Commission (EC) behaves as if it does not want to resolve the issue of regulating transit to the Kaliningrad region.
The European Commission is now behaving as if it absolutely does not want to settle this issue. This is noticeable to the naked eye. My personal observation is that the European Commission has no desire to make such a suggestion, so that everything is clear here, so that there are no objections
The diplomat added that the European Commission has methods of how to behave when it really wants to resolve the situation.
Ryabokon added that perhaps the EU and the US need “an actor who will always or often oppose”, and Lithuania was appointed such a player. He also pointed to the lack of an adequate EU response to Vilnius’ attempts to restrict transit.
Related materials:
The Russian Embassy sent a note to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry on the possibility of paying for transit
Charge d’Affaires of Russia in Lithuania said that he had sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country in connection with the possible suspension of payments for transit to the Kaliningrad region. He pointed out that Russian operators must pay for the transportation of goods, and transactions can be carried out through one bank – Siauliai Bank, which announced the termination of operations with Moscow from September 1.
When I was at the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, I raised this question, I personally handed them a note on Siauliai Bank – figure it out, there is still time until September 1, you decided the Kaliningrad transit, you removed all the tension. So why are you, it turns out, preparing a second strike on cargo transit?
According to the diplomat, the decision to stop the operation is another blow to transit, only from a different direction.
It is still premature to assess Lithuania’s decision to resume transit
Ivan Nechaev, Deputy Director of the Department and Press of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on July 27 that it is still premature to evaluate Lithuania’s decision to resume transit, it is necessary to see how it will be applied in practice.
Based on the explanations of the European Commission, the Lithuanian authorities decided to resume the movement of transit trains with goods in the Kaliningrad direction. We believe that it is too early to evaluate this decision, the main thing is how this procedure will be implemented in practice.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that although the first wagons with sanctioned cargo for Kaliningrad passed through Lithuania, there is still a long work to be done on Kaliningrad transit.
#Kaliningrad #allowed #stop #transit #Lithuania #September