Banks operating in Lithuania may be granted exemptions and allowed to handle payments for the Kaliningrad transit service, the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) has said.
“The FNTT is guided by directly applicable EU regulations, European Commission’s guidelines, which state that sanctions do not apply to the transit of goods by rail between mainland Russian Federation and Kaliningrad region,” the FNTT said.
The FNTT announced its position, as Lithuania’s authorities sought to clarify whether the country’s banks might face the risk of breaching international sanctions for servicing Russian payments for Kaliningrad rail transit. (LRT/Business World Magazine)