Russia has already exhausted the limit for the transit of some sanctioned goods through Lithuania to and from Kaliningrad, so they are no longer transported by Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), the country’s state-owned railway company says.
“The averages of some commodity codes for iron and steel, wood products, fertilisers, ethylene glycol, as well as some other commodities, have already been reached,” LTG said.
Transit of sanctioned goods between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad is allowed across Lithuania by rail, but only for the needs of the Russian exclave. Lithuania has calculated the needed amounts using data from 2019-2021 years.
Kaliningrad governor Anton Alikhanov said on August 9 the exclave could no longer import oil, timber, fertilisers and some other sanctioned goods through Lithuania due to the existing EU restrictions.
LTG says the list of sanctioned goods allowed to transit for the Russian region’s needs includes several hundred codes and the quantities are evaluated on a case-by-case basis once applications are received.
According to LTG, the average volume of all such goods amounts to 3.1 million tons, including coal (1.07 million tons), ferrous metals (590,000 tons), timber and wood products (60,000 tons), cement (260,000 tons), food products, animal feed, beverages, tobacco (60,000 tons), oil and oil products (980,000 tons) and other goods (80,000 tons).
Alikhanov, among other things, suggested that Russian Railways should open an account with the Lithuanian State Treasury to pay for transit to and from Kaliningrad, but Lithuania claimed that such a possibility was not provided for by law.
“The law on the state treasury does not provide for such a possibility,” the Finance Ministry said. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
