European authorities fear the pressure on Lithuania. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the EU had accepted warnings that closing the transit route would have serious consequences.
The EU’s seventh package of sanctions against Russia will include adjusting the rules for the transit of sanctioned Russian goods through Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region. Bloomberg writes on this, citing sources knowledgeable on the subject.
Some European officials fear possible pressure on Lithuania to change its position and allow Russian goods to pass into Kaliningrad. One of the interlocutors emphasized that any rule regarding the imposition of sanctions should apply not to Lithuania separately, but to the entire EU.
The agency said some EU countries are pushing for tougher sanctions, including a gas embargo, but few on the bloc are willing to take such bold steps because of shortages and rising prices for raw materials.
Sources say that existing sanctions on technology exports to Russian oligarchs and legal entities will be strengthened and expanded in the near future.
According to the interlocutors, EU member states froze the assets of the sanctioned oligarchs of about 14 billion euros.
In its next package of sanctions, the European Union imposed a restriction on gold exports from the Russian Federation to cut Moscow’s sources of income.
Russia, which is the second country in the world in terms of gold production, exported 12.6 billion liras of precious metals in 2021.
Blockade of Kaliningrad: Russia is ready for any scenario
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko believes that the European Union has accepted warnings of “serious consequences” in the event of a transit ban to Kaliningrad.
“The Russian Federation is ready for any development scenario regarding the transition to Kaliningrad. The ball is on the side of the European Union and Lithuania,” he says.
The official focused on the preparation of countermeasures in case the problem is not resolved.
The media had previously written about the German government’s anger at Lithuania’s ban on transiting Russian goods. This is fraught with Russia’s use of military force to cross its land corridor.
Recall that on June 20, the Lithuanian authorities prohibited the passage of Russian goods through its territory. Russia threatened to solve the problem of the Kaliningrad blockade in any way.
The deputy of the Lithuanian Seimas Matas Maldeikis said that the Russian Federation has created hysteria about transit from Kaliningrad, because the full package of EU sanctions applies to about half of the imported goods.
Source: Riafan
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