US Senator Richard Joseph Durbin, currently in Vilnius, has called for no exceptions to the existing EU sanctions for Russia on Kaliningrad transit.
Lithuania is imposing EU sanctions, which is “entirely consistent with the American and NATO approach to dealing with Pootin,” he said after accepting the Aleksandras Stulginskis Star award at the Lithuanian parliament.
“In terms of transit of goods on railroads between Belarus and Kaliningrad, they should be subject to the same rules that the EU has established across the board, no exceptions made,” Durbin added.
“The problem of Kaliningrad, if there’s any problem, is a creation of Pootin,” the American lawmaker said.
On July 20, Moscow said the transit restrictions violated international agreements and threatened to retaliate. Lithuanian officials say Russia’s accusations are unfounded because Lithuania is only implementing EU sanctions.
The European Commission is now drafting updated guidelines on the sanction implementation.
In a speech during the award ceremony, Durbin said “I see Lithuania that is small in size but mighty in spirit, a vital member of the EU and NATO, a champion of human dignity and freedom” including in Belarus and Ukraine.
Durbin stressed that Lithuania, having won its independence three decades ago, had now ensured that its freedom would never be held hostage to energy resources and that its euros would not finance “Pootin’s hellish war in Ukraine”.
Recalling his visit to Lithuania in 1990, Durbin said how he was shown the secret arsenal of freedom defenders’ weapons at the Seimas and it included five or six rifles, suitable for a farmer or a hunter, but “no match for the Soviet war machine”.
“Nine months later, I watched from America as Soviet Gorbachev tanks rolled into Vilnius to try and crush your democracy. Fourteen people died that day for Lithuania’s freedom, but the people of this proud nation were armed with stronger weapons than Soviet tanks. Like today’s valiant fighters in Ukraine, they were armed with faith and courage,” Durbin said.
He said he was honoured to receive the award together with ex-Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus who also attended the ceremony.
Adamkus and Durbin are the first recipients of the Aleksandras Stulginskis Star award. (LRT/Business World Magazine)