In mid-June, Lithuania imposed restrictions on the transit of sanctioned goods from Russia to its Kaliningrad exclave. Since then, Moscow has accused Vilnius of a blockade and has threatened to retaliate. What are the main false narratives spread by the Kremlin amid the Kaliningrad transit row?
“Kaliningrad blockade”
The Kremlin’s propaganda calls Lithuania’s restrictions on the transit of sanctioned goods a “blockade”.
Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, was one of the first Moscow officials to use this term in public. He called the restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad a “transport blockade” and threatened to respond in a way that would have “a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania”. Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also called Lithuania’s actions an “element of a blockade”.
Soon after such statements by the Kremlin officials, the narrative of the “Kaliningrad blockade” was picked up by the Russian state media. The association with the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War is not accidental – the aim is to convince the Russian public that Lithuanians are similar to the Nazis.
However, both European and Lithuanian officials stress that there is no blockade of Kaliningrad. Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has called this narrative “a lie”.
Read more: Lithuania and Kaliningrad – updates
The EU sanctions that came into force on June 18 cover steel and ferrous metal products. On July 10, the sanctions were expanded to include Russian alcohol and cement. The sanctions also include restrictions on coal and other solid fuels to come into force on August 10. Sanctions on Russian oil will take effect on December 5.
In total, up to 50 percent of Russian shipments to Kaliningrad through Lithuanian could be affected by sanctions by the end of the year. However, the sanctions do not cover the transit of food, medicines, and other essential products. Passenger traffic has not been affected either, as Russian citizens can still travel to Kaliningrad with a simplified transit visa.
“There is no problem to go from Russia to Kaliningrad and back,” said Paulius Saudargas, Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas. “There is no blockade, and there will never be one. Not to mention humanitarian issues – food, medicine. Nobody is blocking it now, and nobody will block it in the future.”
“Lithuania’s hostile action”
The statements of Russian officials and commentators also give the impression that Lithuania has unilaterally decided to restrict the transit of sanctioned goods. They are also saying that Vilnius deliberately defied Brussels in an attempt to undermine Russia.
For example, Russian commentator Kristina Nikitina wrote the article called “Lithuania will have to change its mind on the Kaliningrad blockade”, published in Expert.ru.
“Lithuania has decided to once again remind about itself and has blocked the transit of many goods from Russia to Kaliningrad. [...] Vilnius decided to take the initiative and started pressing for sanctions without consulting Brussels,” Nikitina’s article reads.
According to her, Lithuania had taken an arbitrary decision, not coordinated with its partner countries, and the EU was shocked by this “trick”, but could not “tame” Lithuania's alleged radicals.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also said that the transit restrictions were a “hostile provocative action by Lithuania”. In reality, the restrictions are part of the fourth EU sanctions package, passed unanimously by 27 EU member states in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In this context, the Russian state media also distorted the statements of the Lithuanian president. On June 22, the TASS news agency reported that “Gitanas Nausėda says Vilnius will continue to expand the list of banned goods”, making it sound as if Lithuania was making the decisions unilaterally. Lithuania, however, is only following the timetable of sanctions on Russian exports approved by the European Commission.
The Lithuanian government is also coordinating its actions with the EU. As early as April, the country asked Brussels for clarification on how to deal with the Kaliningrad transit issue.
“We received a very detailed explanatory letter signed by the three directorates-general of the European Commission – customs, trade and economy,” said Audronius Ažubalis, a Lithuanian parliament member.
“It was explained to us that Lithuania is obliged to implement these sanctions on its territory. It does not matter whether we are talking about exports or re-exports. There is a regulation prohibiting the import of these products,” he added.
“A stab in the back”
From Russian media reports and official statements, one gets the impression that Lithuania’s decision was a huge surprise. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, called Vilnius’ actions a “betrayal”. It seems as if Russia has been dealt an unexpected blow.
However, the fourth EU sanctions package was adopted in March. The list of restrictions was not secret, and the Kremlin was well aware of it. The Russian authorities had a three-month transition period to prepare for the changes.
In April and May, the possible restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad were discussed in the Russian media. At that time, the authorities assured their citizens that the region would withstand the sanctions without problems.
On April 11, Anton Alikhanov, governor of the Kaliningrad Oblast, reassured Russians: “The restrictions do not threaten the Kaliningrad area, and the region’s needs can be met by 10 ferries in any scenario.”
According to Saudargas, “Russia was preparing for a complete blockade of Kaliningrad”.
“They had been planning a brutal war in Ukraine for a long time and knew that sanctions were likely. Russia built power plants in Kaliningrad, preparing for the region to operate in energetically and economically critical mode. There was nothing unexpected,” the deputy speaker of the Seimas added.
“Russia now has the right to review Lithuania's borders”
Russian officials claim the restrictions imposed by Vilnius give Russia the right to review the Lithuania's territorial integrity or demand its expulsion from the EU.
This was first stated by the Rogozin: “Vilnius and the European Union have violated their part of a fundamental agreement with Moscow.” Meanwhile, Andrei Klimov of the Federation Council said that “Russia’s hands are now free to solve the problems created by Lithuania by any means”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and state media claim that Lithuania has violated the “Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the EU on transit to the Kaliningrad region”. The document was signed in 2002 when Lithuania’s accession to the EU was being negotiated. Russian propaganda claims that the EU had agreed on an uninterrupted transit to Kaliningrad, and in return, Moscow “allowed” Lithuania to join the bloc. In reality, there are no such agreements in the document.
The document expresses the goodwill of the parties to promote economic ties between Russia and its exclave. It does not provide for any sanctions for breach of these provisions. Moreover, Lithuania is a sovereign state, so its membership in any union cannot be decided by third parties.
Why Russia needs all this?
According to Lithuanian officials, the Kremlin wants to achieve several goals by fueling the Kaliningrad row. First, it aims to blackmail the EU into partially easing the sanctions.
“Russia wants to relax the sanctions regime. It is taking advantage of the situation and escalating it itself,” Saudargas said.
It is also possible that such an information campaign is aimed at an internal audience.
“The Kremlin wants to show once again to its own people, to its own voters, that Russia is a besieged fortress fighting against the West,” Ažubalis said.
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