Kremlin officials served notice on Lithuania today that it must allow supplies to go Kaliningrad or face immediate consequences. “The situation is more than serious,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “This decision is really unprecedented. It’s a violation of everything,” Peskov said, serving notice that if NATO wished to avoid WW III they’d better allow the Western-most Russian outpost to receive goods through normal supply channels. Vilnius told Peskov that since the Feb. 24 Ukraine War, Lithuania, as a EU and NATO member, bans the transit of sanctioned goods, including gas and petroleum supplies. EU and NATO officials are pushing their luck to avoid a broader conflagration messing with the Kremlin’s transit of goods to Kaliningrad. Forget about the Balkans being the flashpoint for a new world war, Lithuania’s refusal to allow Russian transit could light the match.
Once a satellite before the 1991 end of the Soviet Union, Lithusania still has remnants from its years of Russian history. Whatever message Vilnius wishes to send under the current circumstances, blocking access routes for Russian freight to Kaliningrad could spark a real conflict. “If cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, then Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry. Kaliningrad, once the Baltic Sea port of Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia, was seized by the Red Army in April 1945 right before the end of Nazi Germany. Kaliningrad nestles between Lithuania and Poland, both NATO members. If Russia takes action against Vilnius, it would trigger NATO’s Article 5, requiring a defense of Lithuania.
Considered one of the most isolated parts of Europe, controlled by the Russian Federation, Kaliningrad is the Western-most outpost of the Russian Federation. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters in Luxembourg that since June 17 Lithuania was banned from allowing the Russian Federation from crossing into Lithuanian territory to supply Kaliningrad. “It’s not Lithuania doing anything. It’s European sanctions that started working from 17 of June,” Landsbergis said. Peskov doesn’t care about any arrangement with the European Union, he’s concerned about re-supplying Kaliningrad through normal transit channels. Kremlin officials don’t abide by the European Commission rules that don’t apply to the Russian Federation. Peskov asks Lithuania to cease-and-desist in blocking access routes to Kaliningrad or face possible military consequences.
Nowhere are there more dangers for starting WW III than a blockade against Kaliningrad by Lithuania, claiming they’re only abiding by EU rules. If Lithuania doesn’t use some common sense in dealing with ordinary supply routes to Kaliningrad, it better figure out things quickly before Vilnius becomes the next flash point. “It was done with consultation from European Commission and under European Commission guidelines,” said Landsbergis in Luxembourg. Lithuania informed the Kremlin that under new EU sanctions Russian cannot ferry goods on Lithuania’s rail system to deliver to Kaliningrad. Whatever the reasons for the blockade, banning Russian goods from traveling on Lithuania rail poses real dangers going forward. If Peskov is serious about retaliating, it could trigger Article 5 where any NATO country is entitled to military protection, regardless of circumstances.
European Commits Vice President Valdis Dombroskis said he had spoken with Lithuanian President Gilanas Nasueda who confirmed that he was applying EU sanctions. No one in the EU has figured out what to do with Russian President Vladimir Putin whom they blame for the war. But the lead up to Feb. 24 bears out that 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Biden months to work out a new security arrangement in Ukraine. Biden told Putin his ideas were all “non-starters” prompting Putin to invade Ukraine Feb. 24. Even peace-minded Pope Francis said May 3 that NATO encroachment on Russia probably prompted the war. Biden said from Day One that the war was “unprovoked and unjustified,” something not supported by the facts. Shortly after Putin invaded, he offered to end the conflict if Ukraine recognized the independence of Donestk and Luhansk Russia sovereignty over Crime.
Since the war began, Biden said he didn’t want to start WW III on the European Continent, refusing to set-up, on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request, a no-fly zone. Biden agreed to pay for the bankrupt Ukrainian government and the war, supplying Ukraine with unlimited lethal weapons and over $40 billion in cash. EU’s sanctions over supply certain Russian goods presents a real dilemma for Lithuania, now on the cusp of military action with Moscow. Lithuania isn’t bound to implement EU sanctions against the Kremlin. Lithuania, as a sovereign state, must do what’s best for its own security, not for Brussels. Lithuania President Gitanas Nauseda must ask whether he wants to provoke war with the Kremlin, over a Brussels’ edict. Since Vilnius has supplied Kaliningrad for years, it doesn’t fly that they cannot continue to let supply chains remain open.
