Alikhanov said he counts on amendments to the EU law on transit

The authorities of the Kaliningrad region expect that together with the Russian Foreign Ministry they will succeed in getting the EU to amend its packages of sanctions against RUSSIA and exclude from them restrictions on the transit of goods from other regions of Russia to the region. This was announced to journalists by the head of the region Anton Alikhanov, TASS reports.

“Now I hope that with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [of Russia] we will achieve that one of the decisions will be made: either amendments will be made to the first four packages [of sanctions], or the amendment in the fifth package will be extended to the previous four, or there will be new explanations have been given to Lithuanians so that they do not apply restrictions on the first four packages for Kaliningrad transit,” the head of the region said.

At the same time, according to him, it is difficult to talk about the possible timing of such decisions. “Eurobureaucrats are the same bureaucrats as everyone else. Apparently, they don't read their papers very carefully. The word transfer in their documents implies - and this follows from the logic of the text - transfer, that is, barter transactions or free transfer of goods, meaning the restriction of mutual trade and the exchange of goods between European states and Russia, not meaning any transit, ”concluded head of the region.

On June 18, Lithuanian Railways stopped transit deliveries to the Kaliningrad region, as well as the EXPORT of a large list of goods that fall under EU sanctions . These are products made of iron, steel and some other metals, fertilizers, timber, wood products, glass containers, cement, etc. The full list of goods consists of 66 pages. Vilnius did not rule out that it could expand. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis explained that the country is implementing the European sanctions that came into force on June 17, this is done after consultations with the EC.

Alikhanov accused Lithuania and the EU of violating international obligations and said that the neighboring country would face consequences. The Russian Foreign Ministry protested and promised a "practical" rather than diplomatic response. The Kremlin said that Russia is considering various options for measures. “Concrete measures are being discussed, we talked about this, of course. We are convinced that these illegal sanctions are absolutely inapplicable in this situation, ”said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the president.

At the same time, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, ruled out a transit blockade of the Kaliningrad region, and Lithuania, according to him, acted strictly in accordance with the EU sanctions. He also noted that the European External Action Service will review the directives on sanctions measures. “To clarify that we do not want to block traffic between Kaliningrad and Russia, but only to prevent the circumvention of sanctions,” Borrell said.