The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry on Monday handed a note to Moscow’s charge d’affaires Sergey Ryabokon, explaining the application of the EU sanctions on the transit of steel and ferrous metal products between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia.
The ministry said it denied information by Russian officials that Lithuania has banned the transit between the exclave and the rest of Russia.
“Passengers and goods not subject to the EU sanctions regime continue to be transported through the territory of Lithuania to and from Kaliningrad,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Lithuania has not imposed any unilateral, individual, or additional restrictions on the transit. Lithuania has consistently implemented EU sanctions, which have different transition periods and deadlines for entry into force,” it said.
On Monday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said that Lithuania’s decision to ban the transit of sanctioned goods was “a violation of everything”.
Read more: Russia says Lithuania’s transit ban 'violates everything'
Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov said on Saturday that LTG Cargo, the freight transportation subsidiary of Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways), had informed the Russian exclave’s railway operators of a ban on the rail transit of many products due to Western sanctions.
According to the governor, the ban will affect 40-50 percent of products imported and exported to and from other Russian regions via Lithuania, including construction materials, cement, and metal products.
According to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, the EU’s restrictive measures on imports into and transit through the bloc’s territory of Russian steel and other ferrous metal products came into force on June 17, as part of the EU’s 4th sanctions package adopted on March 15.
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