The European Union and Russia have agreed on the transit of goods in the Kaliningrad region, the newspaper "Izvestia" reports, citing high-ranking sources from the Russian side.
"The European Union and Russia have agreed on the transit of goods in the Kaliningrad region. Brussels has provided a document that ‘fully satisfies’ Moscow," the message said.
According to the source, negotiations on the final document between Brussels and Vilnius have been going on for several weeks.
"This document says that the movement of goods between Russian entities cannot be restricted. This means that all goods destined for the region will be exceptionally removed from the sanctions lists. We are talking about both rail and road transit," said a familiar source quoted in the report.
On June 18, Lithuanian Railways stopped the transit of a number of goods subject to EU sanctions in Kaliningrad. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Lithuania is acting aggressively and crossing the lines of hostile attitude. EU Ambassador Markus Ederer was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Russian side demanded that transit be resumed immediately, or retaliatory measures would follow. Lithuanian authorities deny violating the transit agreement and say they are only enforcing EU sanctions, and President Gitanas Nauseda has said Vilnius will not make concessions.
Later, however, the governor of the Kaliningrad region, Anton Alikhanov, said that information had emerged that the European Commission intended to honor its commitments and not impede transit and that a diplomatic solution to the matter was expected. A source from the European Commission told RIA Novosti that the EC is in close contact with the Lithuanian authorities regarding the transit of goods to Kaliningrad and will give additional instructions depending on the development of the situation.
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