by Gilbert B Norman
Whoops; that's now Kaliningrad.
The German news channel (also available in English) Deutsch Welle reports that Lithuania is now restricting trains from the Russian enclave, Kaliningrad, that are handling sanctioned goods from transiting their territory to and from "Mother Russia". Passenger trains are apparently unaffected:
https://www.dw.com/en/transit-row-betwe ... a-62238950
Fair Use:
The German news channel (also available in English) Deutsch Welle reports that Lithuania is now restricting trains from the Russian enclave, Kaliningrad, that are handling sanctioned goods from transiting their territory to and from "Mother Russia". Passenger trains are apparently unaffected:
https://www.dw.com/en/transit-row-betwe ... a-62238950
Fair Use:
Anyone traveling by train from Moscow to Kaliningrad must show their passport at three state borders: the Russian, Belarusian and Lithuanian. Belarus and Lithuania lie between the Russian heartland and its exclave, Kaliningrad. Belarus is still allowing all Russian trains through, but Lithuania recently banned the transit of Russian trains laden with goods that Russia is banned from importing.A historical note; this was once the East Prussian, port city named Königsberg, which Russia captured during WWII from the Germans. It is surrounded by Lithuanian territory which was of no concern until 1989 as such was "behind the Iron Curtain" and dominated by "Mother Russia". Now that Lithuania is a NATO member and with the Alliance's indirect support of Ukraine in the present conflict, this access is very much an issue, as availability of deep-water year-round maritime access is very much an issue for Russia.
For Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, this is a logical and, above all, legal implementation of the EU's sanctions on Russia. Russian politicians, however, have described Lithuania's move as a hostile blockade of the population in the Kaliningrad region. They accuse the EU member country of violating international rules on freight transport, and even human rights.
The Lithuanian ban applies to freight trains laden with, among other things, coal, metals, cement, timber, and other building materials. These are all goods that have been sanctioned by the EU in response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and which can therefore not be imported by Russia from the EU. The governor of Kaliningrad, Anton Alikhanov, has complained that the ban covers up to 50% of all goods that are transported to Kaliningrad.