Lithuania has been blockading Kaliningrad for the past 20 years: how can Russia respond to the aggressive actions of Vilnius

Lithuania has stopped the transit of Russian cargo to Kaliningrad by rail through its territory. Not all, but significantly.

Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda spoke with State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov, the author of the bill to revoke the decree on Lithuania’s independence.

“WE WERE SURE – LITHUANIA WILL BLOCK EVERYTHING”

– A few days after your high-profile statement, Lithuania blocks the Kaliningrad region.

– We were sure that Lithuania would block the area. I personally spoke about this, I am a resident of the Kaliningrad region. This is a programmed thing related to breaking the law in 1991. Now the conflict has reached an irreversible stage.

– So what is your initiative? The State Duma has not even begun to consider it, and Lithuania has already reacted.

– The situation with the conflict with the West can be ended only on the basis of the law. The law is the results of the Second World War. There was no Lithuania after the Second World War. Lithuania’s withdrawal from the USSR was illegal. The conflict was programmed.

– And how to finish it?

– Only by canceling the illegal withdrawal of Lithuania from the USSR, and we are the legal successors of the Union, and on this basis it is possible to end the conflict.

– When else will your project be considered – and Kaliningrad is already blocked.

– It has been blocked since the early 2000s. This is probably the 1950s, an additional impact on the Kaliningrad region and the Russian Federation.

– But there was an agreement between Lithuania, the EU and Russia on transit in exchange for the recognition of territories. All these years it all worked. Now why was it necessary to sharply aggravate?

– I repeat: the Kaliningrad region has been blocked by various methods for more than 20 years. A number of restrictions were introduced a long time ago. We will not be able to unblock either the Kaliningrad region or stop hostilities by crying and licking NATO’s boots.

– And what are our next steps?

– In Kaliningrad there was a terminal for the supply of liquefied gas, built in recent years. Launched ferry rail service. What to do? Speed ​​up the adoption of a law on the abolition of illegal decisions to withdraw the territory of Lithuania from the Soviet Union. Create a program of communication between NATO and Lithuania on the basis of the law. But simply blocking ports – which is what they talk about in Lithuania – is pointless. And it’s not a matter of money….

– If tomorrow the State Duma passes a law on the abolition of Lithuania’s independence, the day after tomorrow NATO sends a reinforced contingent to Klaipeda, the Americans send missiles there…

– Well, yes – and America is dying. Do you think that Americans are complete morons? They have a different concept, in principle they do not allow a threat to their territory. Any conflict with NATO through their fault is a threat to US territory. They will never go for it. By the way, Putin spoke about this when he spoke about equal and indivisible security.

THE KEY IS IN RELATIONS WITH THE EU

And here is what Nikolai Mezhevich, President of the Russian Association for Baltic Studies, told Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda about possible countermeasures.

– What can be our countermeasures?

– The key issue is Russia’s relationship with the European Union. And the key to the problem lies not in Vilnius or Kaliningrad, and not even entirely in Moscow. He is in Brussels. They are frantically looking for new ways to create additional difficulties for Russia. And for this they are going to violate their own agreements, as said by the one who was the head of our negotiating group 20 years ago, Dmitry Rogozin. The Lithuanian border treaty was linked to unhindered transit.

– Are we talking about 2002-2003?

– Yes, then the EU-Russia-Lithuania agreement was concluded that they provide us with transit, and we recognize their territory – and they safely leave for the European Union. And then to NATO.

– In those years, did someone mention a possible blockade?

– It caused European officials to wave their hands then – what are you, we are civilized Europeans, how could you think such a thing about us ?!

– Is the population of the Kaliningrad region internally prepared for this situation?

– Yes. There was a whole range of unfriendly steps on the part of Lithuania and Poland. It should be about expanding measures of federal support. The region was preparing for this, ferries were built, the military has the relevant instructions. But this problem must be solved not by military means, but by economic means. Lithuania must feel the full power of the absolute economic blockade – ours and Belarus’s.

– Like this ?

– Complete cessation of all and all economic ties. Closing borders – literally. Any trade transaction with Lithuania should be considered in the categories of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

– What will it look like for Lithuania?

– They have the Suwalki corridor with Poland, they have a border with Latvia. But for Lithuania, the termination of trade and economic ties with Russia and Belarus will cause the loss of a fifth of GDP.

– Don’t they care?

– When not hundreds or thousands, but tens of thousands take to the streets, the power may simply fall.

– But Vilnius is in NATO and in the EU – and they will be helped.

– But there are no offensive weapons in Lithuania yet. Although this is going to happen. I repeat – it is necessary to respond to economic measures economically. For a complete economic blockade, we must turn to Lukashenka, who has suffered a lot from Lithuanian outrageous people, to support us. And when the Lithuanian economy collapses, Vilnius will not have any policemen. no armed forces. which could disperse 100 thousand indignant people.

– But the Kaliningrad region has been blocked for a long time already – since the beginning of the 2000s by various methods – because of this agreement with Europe and Lithuania?

– Did we have an alternative then? We couldn’t get any other option. And relations with Belarus were a little different. Today we do not want to enter into an armed conflict with Lithuania or with NATO, and then we did not want to. Yes, there were sanitary bans, bans on certain types of nomenclature, attempts to restrict the transport of certain consignments. But against the background of the current blockade measures, these are small, dim flowers.

– Is it possible that Lithuania, and therefore both NATO and Russia, find themselves in a state of war?

– In addition to Biden, there are people in the United States who make decisions, and I don’t think that because of a handful of Lithuanian crazy people (we shouldn’t equate them with the Lithuanian people), Washington will not want to enter the third world.

– The US will not want to die for the Baltics?

– They don’t want to. But we have not yet applied effective economic measures against Lithuania in 30 years. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says very correct things, and business structures conduct trade with Lithuania. This is what needs to be stopped. That is, it should be such a border as between North and South Korea. Then this mode will stay for a month or two – and then we’ll see.

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