EU, Russia reach an agreement, remove Kaliningrad restrictions

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The European Union and Russia have reached an agreement on the transit of goods to Kaliningrad, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, citing high-ranking Russian sources, who added that Brussels provided a document that "completely satisfied" Moscow.

The same source said, as quoted by the newspaper, that "this document says that it is impossible to restrict the transit of goods between the subjects of the Russian Federation. That is, all goods going to the region will be withdrawn as an exception from the sanctions lists. We are talking about both railway and road transit."

The EU and Lithuania have been coordinating the final document for several weeks, according to the source.

In early April, the EU banned Russian-registered trucks, but made an exception for those transiting to Kaliningrad, which is located on the Baltic Sea coast.

It is worth noting that Lithuania's current transit restrictions on Russian goods apply to all transit of goods sanctioned by the EU.

On June 18, Lithuanian Railways notified the railway authorities of the Kaliningrad region that it would suspend the transit of a number of goods subject to EU sanctions.

Commenting on this issue, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is observing various options for responding to Lithuania's "unfriendly" move.

On his account, Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov noted that “the restrictions would not affect the transit of oil products at least until August 10 and that the region would mobilize its ferry fleet to compensate for railroad cargo cuts”.

A look back 

Lithuania banned the transit of goods through Lithuanian territory to and from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, citing EU sanctions against Russia.

The goods in question include coal, metals, construction materials, and advanced technology, and the ban covers around 50% of the region's imports.

Since the blockade was initiated, the EU Commission and Lithuania have been discussing whether goods being transited to and from Kaliningrad are subject to EU sanctions. 

Germany pushed for an exemption for the exclave in order to avoid a European escalation against Russia.

The agreement took place when the next batch of sanctions is due to come into force.