Lithuania restricts train travel to and from Russian exclave

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 22 Feb 2024 by Alex Teddy

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On February 22 the announcement was made that trains going from Russia through Lithuania to the Russian exclave Kaliningrad will not be allowed to pick up or drop off passengers. The rule will take effect from March 1. Lithuania is also closing two border crossings with Belarus. It closed another two in 2023. Vilnius said the reason for this is to stop smuggling, to enforce sanctions and to mitigate security risks. There are still two border crossings open between Belarus and Lithuania. Kaliningrad is a Russian territory by the Baltic Sea that borders Lithuania and Poland. To get to the main part of Russia, people from Kaliningrad have to travel through Kaliningrad and Belarus. Kaliningrad used to be the German city of Konigsberg. It was annexed by Russia in 1945. In the Soviet era it did not matter that Lithuania was in between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia. For 2 years Lithuania has said that Russian passengers getting off trains in Lithuania is a risk to national security. Lithuania is an EU member state, and most of these passengers have EU residency. In 2023 passenger numbers on the railroad through Lithuania to Kaliningrad increased by a factor of five. Russians sometimes cross from Kaliningrad by land to Poland and Lithuania to fly to other countries from there because there are no direct flights from Russia to many other countries due to sanctions. Since 2022 Lithuania has limited the types of goods that it will allow to be transported to and from Kaliningrad by rail.