Lithuania's President reminded russia of its NATO membership
Lithuania is ready for any steps taken by russia in response to the decision of the country's authorities to ban the transit of a wide range of goods to the Kaliningrad region in accordance with EU sanctions against Russia for aggression against Ukraine.
It was stated by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in an interview with Reuters.
"We are ready for hostile actions from russia in response, including disconnection from the BRELL system or others. However, I do not believe that russia will challenge us militarily because we are a member of NATO," Nauseda said.
He added that Lithuania is looking forward to the implementation of the following stages of sanctions.
"It would be good if the European Commission explained their content (sanctions – ed.) to the russian authorities. It could relieve some of the current tensions that are not in the interests of either the European Union or russia," he said.
Earlier, the Kremlin warned Lithuania that moscow would react to the ban on the transit of goods to Kaliningrad in such a way that its citizens would "feel pain" from this step.
Reference
The russian Foreign Ministry summoned the head of the Lithuanian diplomatic mission Virginia Umbrasene and expressed a protest against the decision of the Lithuanian authorities to ban the transit of a wide range of goods to the Kaliningrad region.
It called for "immediate lifting of restrictions" and said that "russia reserves the right to act to protect its national interests."
After that, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry handed over a note to russian Chargé d'Affaires Serhiy Ryabokon with an explanation of the EU's restrictive measures on some categories of goods in transit to Kaliningrad.
During the meeting, the information spread by the russian side that Lithuania has banned the transit of passengers and goods that do not fall under the EU sanctions regime was refuted.
