Russia awaits progress on Kaliningrad transit embargo, issue unresolved — Kremlin

Peskov

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: Moscow is anticipating progress on the Lithuania transit embargo against Kaliningrad though the predicament is still not completely solved, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.

"So far, this situation has not been finalized. We are awaiting some progress yet right now we cannot state that this problem has been resolved," he said in response to a request to comment on reports that the EU and Russia have allegedly reached agreements on the transit of cargoes to the region.

This information was earlier reported by Izvestia citing unnamed sources from the Russian side. That said, the Kaliningrad Region stated that it had not yet received any official notices or documents on any removal of restrictions.

On June 18, Lithuania blocked the transit of goods specified by the European sanctions to and from Kaliningrad. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin stated that Vilnius’ actions were unlawful and contradicted international agreements. Governor of the Kaliningrad Region Anton Alikhanov reported that the region had proposed four alternatives to respond to the Lithuanian transit ban. In their turn, the Lithuanian government and the EU leadership noted that the country had not introduced any unilateral or additional restrictions and was simply consistently implementing the current European sanctions.