Russia warns NATO member Lithuania of ‘serious’ consequences if it doesn’t lift blockade of Kaliningrad

“Appropriate measures” are in the works and they “will be taken in the near future”, Russia’s security council chief warned.

Foreign Affairs Ministers of Lithuania Gabrielius Lansbergis (L), Italy Luigi Di Maio (2nd L), Latvia Edgars Rinkevics (C), Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides (2nd R) and Spain Jose Manuel Albares Bueno (R) talk before a Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the EU Council building in Luxembourg on June 20, 2022. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP)

Russia’s security council chief Nikolai Patrushev on Tuesday warned EU and NATO member Lithuania of “serious” consequences over restrictions on the rail transit of EU-sanctioned goods to Moscow’s exclave of Kaliningrad.

Moscow accused the Baltic nation of banning the rail transit of goods subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union over Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.

“Russia will certainly respond to such hostile actions,” Patrushev said at a regional security meeting in Kaliningrad, a Russian region bordering Lithuania and Poland.

He added that “appropriate measures” are in the works and they “will be taken in the near future”.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

“Their consequences will have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania,” he said in remarks reported by Russian news agencies.

Also on Tuesday, Russia’s foreign ministry summoned the EU ambassador to Moscow, Markus Ederer, over the “anti-Russian restrictions” on cargo transit between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia.

“The inadmissibility of such actions, which violate the relevant legal and political obligations of the European Union and lead to an escalation of tensions, was pointed out,” the ministry said in a statement.

Speaking after the meeting, Ederer said he called on the Russian side to “remain calm” and “resolve this issue diplomatically”, TASS news agency reported.

Foreign Affairs Ministers of Lithuania Gabrielius Lansbergis (L), Italy Luigi Di Maio (2nd L), Latvia Edgars Rinkevics (C), Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides (2nd R) and Spain Jose Manuel Albares Bueno (R) talk before a Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the EU Council (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP)

Moscow has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift the restrictions, which Vilnius says were taken in compliance with European sanctions over Ukraine.

Wedged between EU and NATO members Lithuania and Poland, the heavily militarised exclave of Kaliningrad does not share a land border with Russia.

The region on the shores of the Baltic Sea is the base of Russia’s Baltic Fleet and Moscow says it has deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles there.

‘Serious’ consequences’

Lithuania says it is simply adhering to EU-wide sanctions on Moscow but Russia countered, accusing Brussels of “escalation”.

Moscow summoned the EU’s ambassador to Russia. Its foreign ministry said Lithuania’s actions “violate the relevant legal and political obligations of the European Union”.

On the ground, the police chief of the Kyiv region said victims of the Russian attempt to seize the capital city continued to be found. So far, the bodies of 1,333 civilians have been discovered and 300 people still missing.

On the maritime front, Russia’s navy is blockading ports, which Ukraine says is preventing millions of tonnes of grain from being shipped to world markets, contributing to soaring food prices.

Prior to the war, Ukraine was a major exporter of wheat, corn and sunflower oil. With European officials due to gather this week at a summit expected to approve Ukraine’s candidacy to join the EU, Brussels foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the Russians’ port blockade “a real war crime”.

He said it was happening “while in the rest of the world people are suffering hunger”.

A tractor towes a harrow on the field of Chyorny Khleb ("Black Bread") enterprise in the village of Khatmanovo, some 150 kilometres outside Moscow on June 7. -Yevgeny Shifanov, co-owner, says his business has felt the sting of Western sanctions and he is no longer able to sell his grain to Europe. Picture: Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP

Moscow denies responsibility for the disruption to deliveries and, following Borrell’s comments, blamed the West’s “destructive” position for surging grain prices.

Growing concerns about a food crisis are “the fault of Western regimes, which act as provokers and destroyers”, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was engaged in “complex negotiations” to unblock grain exports, although he cautioned that there was no progress as yet.

In an address to the African Union, he said the continent was a “hostage” of the conflict, and rising food prices had “already brought (the war) to the homes of millions of African families”.

The EU has pledged an additional 600 million euros ($635 million) to help vulnerable nations weather the food security crisis.

Russia is blocking millions of tonnes of grains desperately needed across the world.

To help our partners we will mobilise an additional €600 million to avoid a food crisis and an economic shock.

This comes on top of an EU package of €3 billion for global food security.

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 21, 2022

‘Significant losses’

In addition to Toshkivka, Ukraine said it had lost control of the eastern village of Metyolkine, a settlement adjacent to Severodonetsk, which has been a focus of fighting for weeks and is now largely under Russian control.

A chemical plant in Severodonetsk where hundreds of civilians are said to be sheltering was being shelled constantly, Ukraine warned.

But defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told Ukrainian television that Russian forces had suffered “significant losses in the area of Severodonetsk”.

“They are fighting under the old statutes of the Soviet era. This is a war for territory,” he said.

Three people were injured and seven more missing after Ukrainian forces attacked oil drilling platforms in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, Crimea’s Moscow-backed leader Sergey Aksyonov said.

It was the first reported strike against offshore energy infrastructure in Crimea since Russia launched its invasion and Russian lawmaker Olga Kovitidi said the complex was still ablaze.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Picture: JOHN THYS / AFP

$100 million medal

In New York, Dmitry Muratov, the Russian editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize gold medal for $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by the war.

It was sold to an as yet unidentified phone bidder.

Muratov, who won the prize in 2021 alongside journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines, and others at the auction were stunned when the final bid came in at tens of millions of dollars more than the previous offer.

With US-Russia tensions soaring, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told NBC News that two Americans captured in Ukraine while fighting with Kyiv’s military were “endangering” Russian soldiers and should be “held accountable for those crimes”.

The interview is the first time the Kremlin has commented on the cases of Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, both US military veterans, according to NBC.

Spain said one of its citizens fighting for Ukraine had been killed in the country without giving further detail.

Denmark meanwhile became the latest European country to warn of potential gas supply problems. Its energy agency issued an early warning, due to uncertainty over hydrocarbon imports from Russia