Russian official: Lithuania violates international law
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Russian official condemns Lithuania's decision to implement a "blockade" on Kaliningrad and highlights the decision as a violation of international law.
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Lithuania violated various international norms, including the rules of the World Trade Organization (Reuters)
Lithuanian authorities have announced on Saturday that there has been a ban on the transit of goods subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union through their territory to Kaliningrad, Russia, starting immediately.
Senator Konstantin Kosachev, the deputy speaker of the upper house of Russia’s parliament, said that Lithuania broke international law when it implemented the economic “blockade” on Russia’s Kaliningrad Region. In a statement via his Telegram channel, Kosachev said “Lithuania is a flagship of the destruction of international law.”
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Furthermore, the Russian official highlighted that Lithuania violated various international norms, including the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
News of the ban came on Friday, with Kaliningrad governor Anton Alikhanov announcing it through a video.
The region is a Russian enclave that falls between EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania, both of whom have staunchly been opposing Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, exporting arms to Kiev and imposing sanctions on Moscow.
The goods in question include coal, metals, construction materials, and advanced technology, and the governor said the ban would cover around 50% of the region's imports.
The decision was effective as of Saturday, as confirmed by the cargo division of Lithuania's state railways service in a letter to its clients. The letter came after "clarifications" from the European Commission on how the sanctions would be applied.
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