Kaliningrad has already used up transit quotas for some sanctioned goods

Russia has already exhausted the limit for the transit of some sanctioned goods through Lithuania to and from Kaliningrad, so they are no longer transported by Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), the country’s state-owned railway company said.

“The averages of some commodity codes for iron and steel, wood products, fertilisers, ethylene glycol, as well as some other commodities, have already been reached,” LTG told BNS on Wednesday.

Transit of sanctioned goods between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad are allowed across Lithuania by rail, but only for the needs of the Russian exclave. Lithuania has calculated the needed amounts using data from 2019-2021 years.

Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov said on Tuesday the exclave can no longer import oil, timber, fertilisers and some other sanctioned goods through Lithuania due to the existing EU restrictions.

LTG says the list of sanctioned goods allowed to transit for the Russian region’s needs includes several hundred codes and the quantities are evaluated on a case-by-case basis once applications are received.

Russian cargo train to Kaliningrad transiting Lithuania | AP nuotr.

According to LTG, the average volume of all such goods amounts to 3.1 million tons, including coal (1.07 million tons), ferrous metals (590,000 tons), timber and wood products (60,000 tons), cement (260,000 tons), food products, animal feed, beverages, tobacco (60,000 tons), oil and oil products (980,000 tons), other goods (80,000 tons).

Alikhanov, among other things, suggested that Russian Railways should open an account with the Lithuanian state treasury to pay for transit to and from Kaliningrad, but Lithuania claims that such a possibility is not provided for by law.

“The law on the state treasury does not provide for such a possibility,” the Finance Ministry told BNS.

On July 22, LTG resumed the transit of sanctioned goods between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad after it was suspended in mid-June.

Under the existing EU sanctions for Russia, the country is banned from transporting steel and ferrous metals via the EU territory from June 17. The same ban for cement, alcohol, wood, glass, aluminum, paper products, gypsum, ship parts, came into force on July 10, and the transportation of Russian oil and its products is set to be banned from December 5.