The European Union and Russia have agreed on the transit of goods to the Russian exclave region of Kaliningrad, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported on Wednesday, citing high-ranking Russian sources, adding that Brussels provided a document that "completely satisfied" Moscow.
"This document says that it is impossible to restrict the transit of goods between the subjects of the Russian Federation. That is, all goods going to the region will be withdrawn as an exception from the sanctions lists. We are talking about both railway and road transit," the source said, as quoted by the newspaper.
The coordination of the final document between the EU and Lithuania has been going on for several weeks, the source noted, according to Sputnik.
The EU banned Russia-registered trucks in early April but made an exemption for those transiting to Kaliningrad, which is located on the Baltic Sea coast. The current restrictions on the transit of Russian goods, announced by Lithuania, apply to all transit of goods sanctioned by the EU. Lithuanian Railways notified the Kaliningrad region's railway of halting the transit of a number of goods subject to EU sanctions on June 18.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is considering various options for responding to Lithuania's "unfriendly" move. Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov said that the restrictions would not affect the transit of oil products at least until August 10 and that the region would mobilize its ferry fleet to compensate for railroad cargo cuts.
ZZ/PR