Lithuania's Proposed Transit Rule Changes Criticized by Kaliningrad Official

KALININGRAD, August 20. /TASS/. Lithuania is trying to turn the residents of Russia’s Kaliningrad Region into "hostages of other people’s political decisions" by supporting stricter car transit rules that significantly reduce the time allowed to cross the Baltic state’s territory for those heading to the Russian exclave, Chairman of the region’s Legislative Assembly Andrey Kropotkin told TASS.

Earlier, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda supported a proposal to significantly reduce the transit time for vehicles traveling through Lithuania to Russia’s Kaliningrad Region. Lithuanian Presidential National Security Adviser Marius Cesnulevicius told the Ziniu radijas radio station that "there are no reasons to oppose the proposal to cut the transit time through Lithuania from 24 to 6 hours." He said that transit has nothing to do with any travel through Lithuania for tourism or other purposes.

"In my opinion, Lithuania’s latest initiatives to tighten Kaliningrad transit are another attempt to create difficulties for our citizens and provoke social tensions. But such methods no longer work. The residents of the Kaliningrad Region understand what is happening and why. The more external pressure our region faces, the more it unites people," Kropotkin said.

"I am sure that these moves are not driven by security concerns, but by a political agenda of further pressure on Russia. In this situation, they are trying to turn residents of the Kaliningrad Region into hostages of other people’s political decisions. It will not work. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that the Kaliningrad Region is under the full protection of the state, and any attempts to undermine its security will receive an appropriate response. So we regard such statements calmly. We cannot be intimidated, destabilized, or torn away from our country by such decisions," the lawmaker added.

The Kaliningrad Region is a Russian semi-exclave separated from the rest of the country by EU and NATO member states. Aggressive rhetoric against the Kaliningrad Region has recently intensified, including threats in foreign media calling for an economic and territorial blockade of the Russian region.