The European Union may soon make an exception to its restrictive measures, allowing Russia to transit sanctioned goods to the Kaliningrad region through the territory of Lithuania, fulfilling the requirement of the German federal government. Spiegel writes about this, citing his own sources..

According to the publication, negotiations are currently underway in the European Union, initiated at the request of the Federal Republic of Germany, to unblock Russian traffic to the Kaliningrad region, about half of which are now banned..

As noted, the issue of whether the transit route is subject to EU restrictions has been discussed by Lithuania and the European Commission for almost two weeks.. However, now Germany insists on lifting sanctions from this territory in order to avoid escalation by the Russian Federation..

Given this, Brussels may provide a special clarification to the fourth package of sanctions, clarifying the lifting of the ban on the transit of a number of goods to the Kaliningrad region. Since it is these restrictions that Lithuania refers to when opposing Russia's permission to transport through its territory.

However, now the European Union does not have an agreement on this decision with Vilnius, because it does not want to put the country in an uncomfortable position.

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Spiegel writes that the German federal government is outraged by the actions of Lithuania. Berlin does not support her position, noting that "

Germany fears that the blockade of Kaliningrad could lead to an escalation by the Russian Federation, including the use of military force by it to lay a land corridor. Part of the German troops are stationed in Lithuania, which may be involved in hostilities.

“The Germans are putting pressure on the commission to ensure that sanctions do not apply to Kaliningrad. They fear that their soldiers might get into a military conflict and let themselves be intimidated by Russia,” Lithuanian government sources say..

Vilnius advocates that EU sanctions to ban the use of its land routes for the transport of certain Russian goods continue to apply everywhere. "

The position there is also explained by the fact that the European Commission assured in April that the sanctions also apply to transit to the Kaliningrad region. There was no further clarification after that, so a senior official told Spiegel: "

The final decision on the transportation of goods by Russia to the Kaliningrad region may be announced on July 10.

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As a reminder, since June 18, Vilnius has restricted the transit of goods subject to EU sanctions to Kaliningrad. Among them are construction materials, cement and metals..

Due to the blockade of Kaliningrad, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation accused Lithuania and NATO of aggression and violation of sovereignty, and warned that Russia would be forced to resort to "

On June 26, it was already reported that the European Commission is developing a document that will allow transit through Lithuania to Russian Kaliningrad of goods under sanctions of the Russian Federation.

Lithuania called this option unacceptable. The head of the diplomatic department of Lithuania said that concessions could encourage Russia to further aggressive behavior.